The Tarot Twins
by Emerald1
Summary: Written for the Twins Challange. The disappearance of twins on a Marine base shows the team a side of McGee they never knew. My first NCIS fan fiction and the first story after a long medically necessary break. Now complete.
1. Chapter 1

Written for the Twins Challenge on NFA. My first NCIS fan fiction and the first story after a long medically necessary break. Two car accidents, a major bout of pneumonia and a stroke will do that to a person.

Tarot Twins

"Gear up; we've got a set of missing seven year old twins on the base at Quantico. Not you, Ziva, you haven't been cleared for field work yet." Gibbs tossed the keys to McGee as the Mossad officer reluctantly dropped her crutches back onto the floor and eased herself back into her chair.

Tony grinned as he swung his jacket over his shoulder. "Sorry, Ziva, guess you and your sprained ankle are going to have to sit this one out."

"I am not helpless, Gibbs." Ignoring Tony, she tried to put forth a logical argument. "You need all the searchers possible for missing children. I can still photograph and talk to the family."

"Stay here and coordinate the search for us."

"That should be McGee's job." Ziva leaned over her desk as the three men entered the elevator.

Gibbs shook his head as the doors started to close. "At least he can walk." After the doors were completely closed he turned to McGee. "Break your ankle out there tonight, and I'll let Ziva use you for target practice; you got me, McGee?"

McGee shifted uncomfortably as DiNozzo snickered beside him, "Got it, Boss."

___________________

Military police and additional volunteers were already moving out when the NCIS van arrived. Gibbs unerringly found the senior officer in charge of the search and introduced himself and the rest of the team.

"Agent Gibbs, I'm Major Harrison. Glad you're here, but we're still hoping this is a case of some boys losing track of time out in the woods."

"We hope that too, but we need to check all the options. Show us where the boys were last seen. We'll start there. Have your people continue with the gridded search." Gibbs glanced at his two agents. DiNozzo had his usual expression of understated attentiveness, but McGee had intensity about him that the older man rarely saw. As they walked to the picnic area he broke down their plan of attack. "The two of you will start where they were last seen, and spiral out from there. McGee, photos, DiNozzo, bag and tag. If you find anything suspicious give a shout."

"Boss…" Tony hurried to keep up with the ex-Marine. The searchers have been trampling all over here."

Gibbs didn't slow down. "Your point, DiNozzo?" Without giving the other man a chance to respond, he continued. "They were looking for children; you two are looking for evidence."

"Well trampled evidence."

Nothing else was said until they arrived at a small grouping of picnic tables next to a playground. Gibbs walked up to a small group of spouses surrounding a crying woman, McGee right in back of him. DiNozzo was a few steps further behind. An older woman in the group took care of introductions.

"I'm Peggy Harrison; this is Gloria Jacobs, the boys' mother."

The distraught woman reached out and grabbed both Gibbs' and McGee's arms. Find them, please. Find my sons." Gibbs patted the woman's hand as he distracted her with some simple questions.

"Mrs. Jacobs, can you tell me the boys' names and what happened this morning?"

Given something to focus on, she calmed down considerably. Their names are Kevin and Kyle. Today is the first day of summer vacation and they just wanted to play outside all day. I packed them a lunch and that was the last time I saw them. They knew the boundaries of how far they could go and the base has always been so safe. When they didn't come home at dinnertime I started calling the other families, but nobody had seen them since this morning."

Major Harrison's wife picked up the narration. "My house is the closest to the play area here. I wasn't home most of the day, but I leave the back door unlocked so the kids using the playground can use our bathroom. I left at 08:30 and I saw them both on the slide. That's their lunchbox on the ground over there." She pointed to a large backpack leaning up against a tree. "When Gloria called at 18 hundred, my husband and a few of the men started looking for them." Major Harrison walked up behind the group and filled in the rest of the information.

"When we hadn't found them within the hour, I called for a full search and rescue team and the dogs. When the dogs couldn't get a trail away from the playground, I had the base commander call NCIS. We've never had a child go missing here at the base.'

"Is that your search grid?" Gibbs pointed at the map in the senior officer's hands and moved away from the women to review the search plans with him.

McGee made eye contact with the woman still clinging to his arm. "Which of the boys is the oldest?" Behind him, DiNozzo snorted in his ear.

"Twins, McIdiot – remember?"

The mother of the twins, however, understood the question. "Kevin, by seventeen minutes."

"How big of a deal is that to Kevin?" McGee gave a knowing smile, one which Mrs. Jacobs tentatively returned.

"He never lets Kyle forget it." Her focus shifted to DiNozzo as he began to ask for details about what the boys had been wearing that day. Suddenly free, McGee moved to the edge of the wooded grove that bordered the south side of the playground. When DiNozzo finished with his questions McGee had a few of his own. Behind them, Gibbs and the Major moved closer, intrigued by where the younger agent was going with his questions.

"It looks like somebody is building a fort out there. Is that the twins or some of the other kids here on the base?"

"Some of the older boys are building that, why do you ask?" It was obvious that McGee was going somewhere with his questions, but Mrs. Jacobs wasn't sure she understood. Gibbs didn't know either, but he knew the man well enough to let him follow his train of thought.

McGee moved closer to the fort, studying the ground as he walked. "Old enough that they would consider a couple of seven year olds a nuisance?"

"They're good kids, Agent McGee. Are you implying that they had something to do with this?"

"Answer the question, please." McGee ignored the Major's outburst, still focused on the beginnings of the rough fort he was now standing in front of.

Frustrated, the Major pulled off his cap and scrubbed at his head as he thought. "Most of the kids here are ten or eleven years old or older. Then there's a batch of toddlers. The twins are stuck in the middle but we haven't had any problems – at least none that have been reported." He looked to their mother for confirmation

She nodded. "They tend to be ignored a lot by the other kids, but none of them have been mean about it or tried to hurt them in any way."

"Would they be satisfied being a gofer for the older boys?"

Her negative answer gave a flash of insight to Gibbs. Before he could respond to McGee, Tony grinned at his probie. "You think they went off to build their own fort, don't you McGee?"

Major Harrison shook his head as he interrupted. "Does it matter? We've been all through these woods. The boys aren't here. We're going to take the search dogs and try over by the abandoned ammo bunkers. You agents do what you need to do."

"No, they know better than to go there. They know the old bunkers are off-limits. Mrs. Jacobs stood her ground against the senior officer as her pleas were ignored.

"Off-limits is pretty tempting to a couple of seven year olds, especially when their dad is deployed." Without giving the worried mom another opportunity to plead her case, the Major returned to the searchers waiting for him.

Her own frustration showing through, she turned to the NCIS agents. "They're good boys, especially when my husband is deployed. They know the rules."

Gibbs tried to give her his most reassuring smile. "We're going to do everything we can to bring them safely home. I give you my word." He turned to Peggy Harrison as he tilted his head towards the boys' mother. "Now the best thing you can do is to go home and let us work. If we find anything at all, we will let you know."

Understanding the dismissal, Mrs. Harrison guided the younger woman back towards the base housing, leaving the three agents alone in the woods. DiNozzo nudged a fallen branch with his foot as he repeated his earlier question. "You really think they went off to build their own fort.?"

McGee gave a short laugh. "A couple of seven year olds told that they are too little to help build a fort with the rest of the kids on the base? Oh yeah, they decided to build a fort bigger and fancier than the other boys would even dream of; even if they didn't have a clue how to do it."

"All right, McGee, we'll keep your theory in mind." Gibbs allowed a glimmer of pride show on his face. It wasn't often that his youngest agent would disagree with someone in authority and then stand up to defend his opinion. "Keep your eyes open for all the evidence, but you two see if you can find the second fort. It's gonna get dark pretty soon. Let's find them before it happens."

"Where will you be, Boss?" DiNozzo looked like he wanted to say something else but wisely kept his doubts about McGee's theory to himself.

Gibbs walked away, answering over his shoulder. "I'm gonna find out why those damn search dogs couldn't find the trail."


	2. Chapter 2

"You've kidding, right?" DiNozzo squatted down and studied the odd assortment of branches, broken timbers and other debris piled up against a dead snag. "This is their fort?"

"They're seven, DiNozzo, what were you expecting – a three level mansion with towers?" McGee's voice was muffled as his head was currently wedged in what he thought was the entrance. He backed out slowly, his maglight in one hand, something else clutched in the other.

"What'ya got there, Probie?" DiNozzo grabbed his arm and hauled him up onto his feet as soon as he was clear.

McGee handed his partner the action figure he was holding, and then pulled off his gloves as the other man slipped the figure in an evidence bag. "We'd need fingerprints to tell for sure, but I bet this belongs to one of the boys."

"Not bad, McGee. All right, let's see what else we can find." The two men began a spiral search pattern, leaving nothing to chance as they studied the small clearing.

_______________________

"You've got to be kidding me. Do you bozos have any idea what you've done? DO YOU!?!" The marines sat back and allowed the special agent to berate the three teenagers sitting on the ground in front of him. Gibbs' voice got quieter and deadlier as he picked up the ringleader by his collar. "If those boys are hurt or killed because the search dogs couldn't find them in time…"

"What'ya gonna do, old man? We ain't done nothing." Punks never did know when to shut up and Gibbs just stared until this one broke out in a sweat before he answered him.

"Criminally negligent homicide sounds like a good place to start, not to mention possession with intent to distribute. What do you think, Major?"

The soldier was as pissed as Gibbs. "It sounds like they might be getting off easy, sir. It will take hours to get another team of search dogs here."

Gibbs gave a snarl and shoved the teen towards one of the MP's guarding them before he took out his phone and hit the speed dial for DiNozzo.

_"Yeah, Boss."_

"What have you and McGee got so far?" He moved further away from the group to give himself some privacy.

_"We found what looks like the fort the twins were trying to build; even had a toy hidden inside. Search parties went through here too, so forget about footprints or picking up any kind of a trail. We're working our way out from here, maybe we can find something. Any luck getting the dogs back on track?"_

"We can forget about the dogs. Damn teenagers didn't want the search dogs to find their marijuana plants so they used GS powder on them. By the time we get another team of dogs in here, it will be too dark for a decent search. If there is any time for thinking outside the box, this is it, DiNozzo."

_"We're on it, Boss." _

There was the sound of footsteps before DiNozzo's voice dropped to a whisper that Gibbs had to focus on to hear properly.

_"McGeek's surprisingly good at figuring out what these kids were thinking."_

Gibbs grinned as he shut his phone, not bothering to answer. Seconds later he was glaring as he returned to watch the MP's cart the teens away.

"Now what?"

"We do it the old fashioned way." Gibbs looked over at the group, an odd mixture of officers, enlisted men and military police. "We go over every inch of this base and the woods surrounding it."

____________________

"Tony, we've got a problem – a big problem."

When DiNozzo turned around, McGee was staring up into a tree. The leaves were sparse and the senior agent could see all the way to the top of the tree. No child was sitting on the branches. "What, McGee?"

"That." Pointing, McGee pulled out his phone and placed a call, handing the camera to DiNozzo. Acting on instinct, Tony snapped several pictures before realizing what he was looking at.

"A tarot card? What the hell, Probie?" He turned to the younger agent only to find him already on the phone to Ziva.

"I'm serious, Ziva! Have Abby get the maps from the Geological Society. I need to know about every tunnel, cave and mine in that mountain. When she gets them, send them to my phone." Behind him, Tony retrieved the card from the tree and bagged it before trying to get Tim's attention but McGee just waved him away and continued to bark out orders to their Mossad teammate. "Next, I need you to pull the files for the tarot twins murders. It's too old of a case to be in the computer system, so you'll have to pull them from the archive." There was a pause as he obviously listened to a question. "Yes, it was a NCIS case. "See if you can track down the lead investigator from the case if you can; name's Marty Evans. He's retired now and he's living in some retirement village in either Arizona or New Mexico. If you have trouble finding him, I think I've got his email address on my work computer. I know I have it on my home computer. Tell Abby to hurry with those maps, we don't have much time."

Tim disconnected his phone as he sprinted back towards the truck. "Call Gibbs. Tell him what we've found."

"But what in the hell did we find, Probie?" The senior agent scrambled to keep up. Apparently, the personal trainer was paying off for the younger man. DiNozzo juggled the camera, the evidence bag, his backpack and his phone as he called Gibbs.

"Boss! Boss, we got something."

_"What'ya got, DiNozzo?"_

"Don't know, Boss, but we're following it" His panting told Gibbs that they were on the move and in a hurry.

_"Where?" _

"Don't know, Boss."

_"Well, what the hell do you know, DiNozzo?"_

"That Probie's gotten a whole lot faster. I'll let you know." Snapping his phone shut, he put on a burst of speed to catch up with his partner now that they were on the pavement. McGee barely let him climb into the van before he had it in gear and moving.


	3. Chapter 3

Gibbs stared at his phone, replaying the conversation in his head. He'd had strange moments with his team, but this had to be one of the strangest. Now he'd have to wait for one of his men to let him in on the secret and waiting was one thing Jethro Gibbs did not do well.

_________________

Tony held on for dear life as the van raced down the highway. "McGee, when did you start taking driving lessons from Ziva?" When his attempted joke fell flat, he turned his attention to the case. "What did you mean, the tarot twins murder? What case are you talking about?"

"A serial killer that was targeting twin boys on military bases almost twenty years ago. He left a tarot card – that tarot card – at the scene of every abduction. Has to be a copycat, though, he's still in prison, well actually a hospital for the criminally insane."

He gaped at the younger man. "And you know this how? Researching for your next book or something?"

"Something." Any further details were interrupted as McGee's phone beeped. He glanced at it before handing it off to DiNozzo. "Tell Gibbs this is where we're headed. There's not much time left."

"What is going to happen? How much time are we talking?"

McGee looked thoughtful for a moment before he answered. "He grabbed the boys sometime before lunch, but not too much earlier." He glanced down at his watch as DiNozzo interrupted him.

"How do you figure that?" There was something about the young agent's intensity that stopped the jokes running through his head.

"Lunch was still in their pack, but they'd had a snack. If we go by the estimate that they were taken sometime between ten and noon, then we've probably got less than an hour to find them intact."

"Intact? What do you mean, intact?" Tony had a sinking feeling that he knew what it meant, but hoped he was wrong. When Tony looked over and saw the expression on the face of the other man, he knew he wasn't. Dreading the night ahead, he called Gibbs.

_"Talk to me, DiNozzo."_

"Boss, McGee found evidence that suggests the boys may have been taken off the base. We're following up and headed to the mountain at Fountainhead Regional Park to check it out."

_"What evidence?"_

"The same tarot card found at the scene of some abductions and murders about twenty years ago. All those victims were twins, Boss."

_"Shit. So why the mountain?"_

"Why the mountain?" DiNozzo repeated the question for McGee's benefit. McGee answered loudly enough to be heard both in the cab and over the phone.

"Tunnels and mines, it's what he always did. If the copycat knew enough details to duplicate it to this point, we've got to believe that he would go the rest of the way."

_"Makes sense."_

Tony nodded to McGee, realizing that the younger man couldn't hear their team leader over the roar of the engine before he continued to update Gibbs. "If he's right, then McGee says that we've got about an hour to find those kids before the unsub starts to hurt them. We're coming up on the parking lot for the hiking trails now."

_"We're on our way. If you have to choose, the priority is the kids, not the perp."_

"Got it, Boss." Of course his last comment was met by a dial tone, but Tony was used to it. He turned to McGee as the van came to a stop and grabbed his arm. "You sure the hell better be right about this, Probie, or the Boss is gonna kill us both."

McGee's voice was unusually strained as he shook DiNozzo loose and climbed out of the cab. "Would you rather I suspected this but kept working a search grid back on the base?" He didn't wait for an answer as he opened the back of the van and began grabbing gear.

The space blankets, water and flashlights were not a surprise. Even the rope wasn't that much of a shock, but DiNozzo raised an eyebrow when McGee pulled out a scoped rifle and handed it over to him. "What will he be packing?"

"That they never determined for sure. It was at least a 45 cal or a 9 mil" With a final glance at the miniature map displayed on the screen of his phone, McGee set off towards what appeared to be the entrance to a cave or tunnel. His pace was brisk enough to be surprising to the other man, but Tony's long legs enabled him to match it without straining himself. He wasn't sure how long the non-athletic computer specialist could keep up this pace, but in a little more than an hour it probably would be a mute point.

______________________

A convoy of vehicles left the base, the drivers hard pressed to keep up with Gibbs in a borrowed jeep. After a brief and intense discussion the large group of searchers had been divided into two groups, half remaining to continue the search of the base. Gibbs glared at the reflection in his rear-view mirror. The truck carrying the majority of his borrowed searchers was falling behind, the large vehicle no match for the jeep on the curvy road. His gut was telling him he was going to need those searchers sooner than later. He just hoped that their slowness wasn't going to cost either the lives of his men or the two young boys they were determined to find.


	4. Chapter 4

Tony watched as McGee bypassed the first two access points to the maze of passages underneath the mountain, only giving them a cursory glance. As much as it was killing him, DiNozzo had promised himself not to distract Tim with unnecessary questions. The first two gates seemed secure when they had been shaken and something on his face as he studied the images on his phone told Tony that he knew where he was leading the older man. At the third gate, he nodded and began pointing out the evidence to DiNozzo. The lock had recently been picked and was, in fact, closed but not latched. Fresh scrapes showed that someone had traveled through the narrow entryway recently.

Tim scrolled through the images Abby had sent to his phone one last time before slipping it into his pocket. If there had been time, he would have had his partner study the maps also. The maps were GPS based and there was a very good chance that he would lose them once the signal became lost inside the mountain. He pulled his Sig as he eased the gate open. Next to him DiNozzo unholstered his sidearm and stepped close.

Neither man said a word as they stepped into the damp tunnel. McGee took the lead, his flashlight and Sig at the ready. He kept his back to the left side of the tunnel, while DiNozzo mirrored him on the right side, only a few steps behind. Just a few yards past the gate Tim spotted a drop of blood on the ground. He knelt down and touched it before turning back to show DiNozzo. Silently he mouthed 'tell Gibbs' as he stood up.

Tony's expression turned grim as he saw the red stain on Tim's finger. Any doubt that the younger man was overreacting was eliminated by the fresh bloodstain. 'Stay here' he silently returned as he backed towards the entrance to capture a better signal. As soon as Gibbs answered the phone, he gave the basics of where they were and what they had found. "Third gate north of the van, found a blood drop just inside the gate." Without waiting for a response he closed his phone and moved back into position. Tim barely gave him a look before resuming his stealthy movement deep into the heart of the mountain. It took less than twenty minutes before they could hear the cries of frightened children echoing through the caverns.

Tim bit his lip as he moved in the direction of the voices. As much as he wanted to reassure the boys that they would soon be safe he knew that their attacker was more than likely also hiding within earshot. He tightened his grip on his weapon as he increased his speed.

Behind the younger man, Tony also struggled not to call out to the twins. They had followed the blood drops and occasional scuffs on the stones, making no effort to hide their own tracks. With any luck, their trail would be easy for Gibbs and the searchers to quickly track.

________________

Gibbs tossed the phone down on the seat as he stomped down on the accelerator. Hopefully, the rest of the searchers would catch up with them at the scene, but right now he needed to get there fast. For not the first time he wished that Ziva was with him. Even with his driving, he was a good fifteen minutes behind DiNozzo and McGee – Ziva could cut that down to eight and a half.

________________________

Ziva may not have been behind the wheel, but she was still speeding as other agents scrambled to get out of her way. The crutches cut a wide swath as she rushed back to the bullpen with the requested file tucked under her arm. Once she was able to toss the file on her desk she let the crutches fall and landed in her chair. After years in Mossad, very few things shocked Ziva David, but her third reading of the file summary took her breath away as much as the first. After forcing herself to calm down, she dialed down to the lab. "Abby, it is Ziva. Have you heard from them since you sent Timothy the maps?" The music almost drowned out the young Goth before it was turned down.

_"No, nothing. Why, have you? Is there something you're not telling me?"_

"I have the file he requested. I believe you need to come up here and read it before they return."

_"Why, what's in it?"_

"Just come up, Abby, please."

_"Is it bad?"_

"Abby, please."

_"It is, isn't it?"_

"It is."


	5. Chapter 5

Gibbs slammed on the brakes, bringing the jeep to a screeching halt a good twenty yards past the team's van before throwing it in reverse and backing up to park next to the van as he realized that his windbreaker and maglight might not be up to the task ahead. Wasting little time he scrambled into the back of the van, digging through the open lockers to find two space blankets. He immediately noticed that the repelling rope and rifle were missing. Grimacing, he shoved the space blankets in his pocket and grabbed one of the remaining large flashlights before returning to the jeep and racing toward the third gate, still standing open. He hoped that the rest of the searchers would follow this blatant clue.

Pausing inside the tunnel for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the dimming light, Gibbs turned on the flashlight and examined the footprints left behind. Much to his surprise, McGee was in the lead still on this one. Satisfied, he nodded to himself before following them. With such a well laid out path, he was able to run, hoping to catch up with them before they caught up with a serial killer.

___________________

Director Jennifer Shepard enjoyed her favorite perch on the landing of the stairs. Half way between the busy bullpen and the oppressive stillness of the upper mezzanine outside of MTAC, it was the place she felt most at home. Gibbs was right; she was still a field agent at heart, unable to resist the siren call of an interesting case or a worried agent. What she was observing was a mix of both and before she was even aware of moving, she was standing at Ziva's desk, reading over Abby's shoulder. Abby was silently crying, while Ziva's blank expression was belied by the white knuckles wrapped around the arms of her desk chair.

"My God, did we know about this?"

Ziva carefully straightened her fingers as she leaned forward, taking a deep breath. "All the personnel assigned to this case have since retired, and McGee never mentioned a word of this until he recognized something about the crime scene. What that something is, we do not know. Neither he, nor Tony or Gibbs has called back in since he requested I pull this file." Just as carefully, she removed the file from Abby's hands and laid it on the desk, staring at the photos it contained. "However, it does explain many of McGee's phobias; phobias that I will never, never tease him about again."

"It's not your fault, Ziva, you didn't know." Abby sat up and wiped her eyes. "None of us knew, but now we do and we'll start understanding all the things he never told us." Forcing herself not to babble, she turned around and stared at the Director. "Why didn't he tell us? All these years and he never told us."

"Abby…" Jenny took a deep breath and tried again. "Abby, this isn't the kind of thing that comes up in casual conversation. I'm sure he didn't know how to talk about it." Another deep breath before she nudged them back on task. "What about the original killer, did you check his status?"

Ziva appeared grateful for the diversion. "Gregory Maycap is still in custody. He has been a model prisoner since his arrest, took a deal with the prosecutor to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced to a total of one hundred and thirty-five years. According to prison officials, he gets no visitors, receives no mail, and spends as much time as possible in his cell. He avoids each and every attempt to interact with the rest of the prison population. The only trips he makes willingly are for medical care.

"He is participating in a medical research program. The prison has not released the details, but he is treated there on a weekly basis and transported once a month to a private hospital." Ziva looked up at the other two women. "I hope the research will save other lives because his is certainly not worth the effort."

__________________

The silence blanketed the cavern as the two men stepped into the space, broken only by the occasional whimper heard from the exhausted boys. DiNozzo prowled the perimeter, looking for any sign of where the suspect could have gone while McGee cautiously moved towards what appeared to be a mine shaft in the center of ground. Sig at his side, Tim tried to appear non-threatening to the victims while keeping his guard up. As soon as he was able to peer into the shaft and see that the boys were alone, he relaxed slightly, trusting Tony to have his back.

"Kevin, Kyle, I'm Agent McGee. Agent DiNozzo and I are here to take you home." He kept his voice soft and his movements slow and cautious as he pulled out his badge and maglight and tossed both items down to the twins. "There's my badge so you can see that I'm really an agent. Now, we are going to get you boys out of here."

One of the tow-headed boys reached out and caught the leather wallet as it fell. The other picked up the small light from where it had rolled to a stop. They opened the badge case and studied it for a long while. Behind him, McGee could sense Tony becoming more edgy but he knew that gaining the trust of the twins was crucial to getting them out without attracting the attention of the man who had put them in there.

"Can we go home now, Agent McGee?" Apparently satisfied with the badge in the wallet, the more adventurous of the two boys looked up.

"Kevin? You're Kevin, right?" When the boy nodded, he continued. "Can you boys climb a rope? We need to get you out of here before he comes back." They looked at each other briefly before Kevin nodded again. McGee grinned at them as he fed the rope down to them. "All right, Kyle you go first. Kevin you start as soon as he's on solid ground." McGee braced himself to take the weight.

"Do you need a hand, McGee?" DiNozzo glanced over his shoulder quickly before returning his focus to watching the many ways into the cavern they were in.

"Just watch out backs."

"You got it." Hyperaware, DiNozzo strained to listen for any movement beyond the cavern, the echoes of the boys scrambling out of the shaft making it difficult to sort the sounds out. Once they were on solid ground, McGee gave them a quick exam.

"We found some blood, who was hurt?" Tim took the light and badge back from them. The badge went back in his pocket as he used his maglight to quickly scan for any head injuries or broken bones.

The twin that McGee now knew was Kevin pointed to his brother. "He had a bloody nose, he gets them a lot." Kyle stared at the ground, not saying a word. McGee tilted the boy's face up to take a better look. The smeared blood under his nose was dried.

"It's a good thing you did, Kyle. The blood drops led us right to you." That comment gave him the boys' undivided attention. "Now, on the way out of here Agent DiNozzo is going to lead and I want the two of you to stay close behind him. I'm going to be behind you. You guys stay between us and do exactly what we tell you, okay?" A quick nod from both the boys and the four of them were on the move, quickly retracing their steps.

They were less than a quarter of the way out when a muffled curse caught Tony's attention. Suddenly, a smaller tunnel behind them was lit from a light they were not carrying.

"Company!"

"Boys, run!"

The voices of the two agents overlapped as they sprung into action, DiNozzo falling back to give cover as McGee rushed their charges towards safety, ducking as shots rang out. DiNozzo returned fire, blindly emptying the clip down the now darkened tunnel before switching to the rifle. The suspect was obviously well protected as he continued to fire until Tony heard a scream of pain and the last volley of shots hit the ceiling of the tunnel. He ducked as a shower of rock pelted him, and then dove out of the way as larger boulders began to fall. Behind him he saw Tim throw himself over the two boys as the rocks continued to come down.


	6. Chapter 6

"They're in trouble, I know they are." Abby paced in front of Ziva's desk for another full minute before returning to Tim's computer to run another tracing of Tim's phone, then Tony's. Finally, in frustration she tried to track Gibbs' phone and had no luck there either. "Why can't I find them?"

Before another rant could start, Ziva stepped in, figuratively. "The GPS on the van still shows it is in the parking lot outside the tunnels, correct?" When Abby gave a short nod, she continued. "You told us, yourself, that the iron ore in the mountain would make tracing their cell locations impossible. We can do nothing else but wait."

Abby wailed in frustration, "but I hate waiting."

"And you think I do not?" Ziva slammed her palms down on the desk in frustration. "If it were not for this ankle I would be out there with them. Instead, I am stuck here, knowing what I now know and I cannot help them." She picked up a pencil and began rolling it between her fingers. "This staying behind really spits."

Abby allowed a slight smirk to cross her face as she studied the other woman. Sometimes she thought Ziva's language mistakes were deliberate, a way to annoy Tony while other times she could see the stress that caused the slips. Today was definitely stress. "Sucks, Ziva. It really sucks."

"That too."

Before either woman could complain further, Director Shepard joined them with an armload of Chinese take-out. She set it on Tony's desk and began to dig through the boxes. "We better eat now; it may be our last chance for a while." After handing out two dinners, Jenny took the last box and sat at Gibbs's desk. She tore open some chopsticks as she spoke. "Ziva is right; they are too deep in the mountain for either the phones or the GPS chips in them to register. I just spoke to the search team that is following them. They are setting up a radio relay system and will let me know when they catch up with any of them."

"Why are the rest of the searchers so far behind them? I thought they were with Gibbs." Ziva took out her aggressions on a helpless piece of Kung Po chicken as she stabbed it with one of her chopsticks.

Jenny gave a knowing smile. "Apparently, the troop transport truck couldn't keep up with Gibbs in a jeep."

__________________

Gibbs paused as he heard a muffled sound. As he focused he realized the sound was familiar to him. Gunfire. The sound of multiple gunshots was echoing all around him. Hoping that the Marines somewhere behind him were close enough to hear also, he began running again. When the sound changed from gunfire to falling rocks he put every bit of speed he had left into it.

________________

DiNozzo stood up, blinking the grit out of his eyes. Thankfully, the flashlight he had been forced to drop to use the rifle was still functioning on the ground. He stepped over to pick it up, noticing the large boulder that had missed him by mere inches. The famous DiNozzo luck had held. Once he had the flashlight in his hand he turned back towards the source of the shooting. Most of the narrow tunnel was now blocked. As long as the suspect couldn't get to them, it was good enough for now. It was more important that he and McGee get the boys to safety, but first he had to find them.

"McGee?" He didn't mean to whisper, but his mouth was dry and coated with dust. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Probie, can you hear me?" A muffled groan gave him a direction and he swung the light towards the noises. McGee was struggling to sit up, carefully keeping his right arm pressed against his body. The boys crawled out from where he had covered them, wide-eyed and dirty but looking none the worse for wear.

"Where is he, is the bad man coming back to get us?"

Tony still didn't know which boy was which as he answered. "He's on the other side of the cave-in, but let's not wait around. Are you boys all right?" When they both nodded, he turned his attention to his partner. Blood was oozing down from a scrape on the side of his forehead and he was blinking owlishly in the light Tony was shining at him. "How bad?"

"Shoulder, head… is he down?" McGee tried to stand up, but DiNozzo held him in place as he continued to check his injuries, so he repeated his question. "Is he down?"

This time Tony let him up, keeping a hand on him as he swayed. "I hit him, but I don't know if he's down. There's a lot of rubble between us and him, though. At least that will slow him down if he's still gunning for us. Can you walk?"

"Yeah, let's keep moving. Where's my light and gun?"

DiNozzo checked around, swinging his light in careful arcs. The shattered remains of McGee's flashlight were scattered a few feet away while only the butt of his Sig was visible under a rock that he estimated weighed more than he and Tim combined. Bending down, he could see blood on the grip. Straightening, he grabbed at McGee's left hand. The hiss of pain he heard told him what he needed to know and he couldn't quite hide the anger and worry in his voice. "How bad is your hand?"

"Oww, I hadn't noticed it until you said something." They both studied Tim's hand briefly in the beam of the light. Although the bones looked to be unbroken, the skin was shredded across the all the knuckles and three of his fingernails were already turning purple. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." DiNozzo deliberately kept his tone flippant. He knew the other man was running on adrenalin by this point and it wouldn't take much to put him down again but he had to be sure Tim could keep moving under his own power. "Can you make it out of here, honestly?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure." He could always count on the kid to not sugar coat it. "What I am sure about is that I'm not ready for another round with him if we stay here. Neither are the boys. Let's go home, Tony."

"You got it, kid." He leaned Tim against the rock wall for a moment while he dug out his maglight from his backpack before handing it to one of the boys. When he saw McGee fumble with his jacket pocket he knew where their other maglight was. Retrieving the light, he armed the other twin with it. "Let's get out of here, guys." He tugged McGee's left arm over his shoulder, careful to grab his wrist instead of the hand as the four of them again started towards the exit. They had only made it a few yards before they could hear someone moving towards them fast.

With a muttered, "sorry, buddy" DiNozzo dropped McGee's arm and stepped away from him, needing the room to bring the rifle up to his shoulder. McGee staggered as he pulled the boys back down to the ground. The last one still upright, DiNozzo prepared to make his stand, the stock securely tucked against his cheek, finger on the trigger.

"Federal agent. Drop your weapon or I will drop you."


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as she had finished her food, Ziva picked up the pencil again. Rolling it between her fingers gave her something to focus on as she waited. Abby had pulled up the maps on McGee's computer and was completely engrossed in them. Jenny had a stack of paperwork and was sitting at Gibbs' desk instead of her own, upstairs. When the phone finally rang, Abby jumped, while Ziva snapped the pencil she was clutching.

"What? How long ago? How soon will your men… then what do you know, Captain? Very will, keep me posted. I expect a call the second you know anything."

Two sets of eyes, one brown one green, watched as Director Shepard terminated the call. She studied them both before quietly updating them. "The Marines have not caught up with any of them, but a few moments before they called me there was a report of shots fired and then what appeared to be the sound of a cave-in of one of the tunnels."

"Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God." Abby resumed her frantic pacing from earlier, pulling on her pigtails as she gave in to her panic. Jenny moved to intercept her, then froze as she saw the expression on Ziva's face.

"Ziva…"

"How can they not catch up with them?" The Mossad officer slammed her fists against the desk three times before she spoke again. "They are supposed to be trained military, the best there is, yet they cannot even keep up with our team. Are they so bad that…" Jenny's hands pressed down on her own, stopping her from punching the desk again also stopped her rant.

"No, our team is that good." Jenny used her best, calmest director voice to get Ziva's attention. "Our guys are the best there is. Tony and Tim are together, they will watch each other's backs. If Gibbs hasn't met up with them yet, he will any minute. They're going to be fine."

"You promise?" Abby stood next to her, biting her lip as she blinked back tears. Keeping one hand on one of Ziva's, Jenny reached out with the other to the young Goth to embrace her. Abby clung to her boss, holding that hand tightly while grasping blindly with the other. Ziva clasped the searching hand, completing the circle. This time all three of them jumped when the Director's phone rang.

____________________

Controlled breathing, a steady pace and years in the Marine Corps taught Gibbs how to push himself beyond normal endurance. What it hadn't taught him was how to deal with the ball of dread currently lodged in his gut. That famous gut of his was currently screaming at him to get to his men, that he should already be with them. Ahead of him he heard activity and brought his gun up as he rounded the corner.

"NCIS, freeze!"

"Federal agent. Drop your weapon or I will drop you."

The two men stood staring at each other before slowly lowering their weapons. "Man, Boss, am I glad to see you." DiNozzo spoke first, looking over his shoulder at the pile of rubble that hid their suspect before turning his gaze to his partner who was again struggling to regain his footing. "Stay down, Probie, the Boss is here with the cavalry." He turned again to look at Gibbs, then past him at the empty tunnel. "You did bring the cavalry with you?"

Gibbs took a quick look over his own shoulder as he moved towards McGee. "Yeah DiNozzo, they're behind me, way behind me." He stepped forward and caught McGee's arm, balancing him as he stood. "You sure you should be upright?"

"Yes."

"No."

The conflicting answers made him smile. Apparently, it was McGee's turn to downplay an injury and DiNozzo was not happy about it. His youngest agent had been full of surprises ever since the call had come in.

Seeing the pause as an opportunity to make his point, McGee continued. "The suspect is behind that pile of rocks. We can't dig him out, cover him and take care of the kids all at the same time." As much as it galled him, Gibbs knew he had a point.

The clatter of falling rocks made the decision easy as he picked up the two exhausted boys. "We'll leave him for the Marines. Let's get out of here." Neither Kevin nor Kyle objected to being picked up by the point. Much to Gibbs' surprise, McGee didn't argue with the support he received from DiNozzo.

____________________

The agency sedan flew down the freeway with the Director behind the wheel, but not fast enough for the other two occupants.

"You should have let me drive, Jenny." Ziva sulked from the passenger seat while she contemplated stepping down on her friend's foot as it rested on the accelerator. The agency had cars with powerful engines for a reason, but her American counterparts were so cautious behind the wheel.

Jenny was beginning to realize that Jethro Gibbs had much more patience than she had given him credit for. She explained again, hoping this time it would register. "Even with my slow, dawdling pace we are going to get to the hospital before they will. They were still in the tunnels when we got the call and the helicopter was still in route to their location." Maybe this time her words got through.

"But, can't we go any faster?"

Or not. Jenny resolutely ignored the whining from the back seat and just concentrated on driving.

____________________

Gibbs and DiNozzo exchanged a look as McGee climbed out of the helicopter under his own power and moved towards the entrance of the hospital. Next to them the two boys were lifted out, each carried by a Marine corpsman. They scrambled to keep up with the injured man they thought they were supposed to be helping.

With his longer legs, Tony reached him first. "Come on kid, it's over. Let us help you."

McGee looked more drained than Gibbs had ever seen him as he caught up with them and he had to strain to hear the quiet words. "Once I stop, I'm done. Just let me get inside under my own power guys. Besides, at least I didn't break my ankle."

The last comment was probably meant to ease the tension, but instead it pinged at Gibbs' gut as he remembered the throwaway jab he made at McGee in the elevator when they left NCIS those many hours ago. He tried to answer in the same light vein. "Don't worry, McGee. I think you're pretty safe from Ziva."

Any other words he may have wanted to add were drowned out as the hospital doors slid open and two dark haired whirlwinds flew out and engulfed the injured man. Abby clung to his uninjured shoulder chanting his name under her breath while Ziva grasped his face, staring at him without saying a word.

"Or, maybe not." Any questions Gibbs may have wanted to ask were trampled when the red headed member of the female trio stood in front of him.

"Why isn't he in a wheelchair? How could you let him walk?" Without waiting for an answer, she turned towards the hospital and bellowed, "Get us a wheelchair right now." When a corpsman rushed over with the requested wheelchair she continued berating Gibbs. "Have you no sense at all, Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" By then the corpsman had McGee seated in the wheelchair, Abby still attached to his shoulder, Ziva still holding his face, but now speaking quietly to him. Ziva had apparently abandoned her crutches someplace and Jenny left Gibbs and DiNozzo to help her hobble inside.

Suddenly abandoned, the two agents stared at each other. DiNozzo found his voice first. "Full name, man she was pissed."

"What the hell just happened?" Gibbs looked around as if a clue would magically appear around them.

"It's kinda like…" DiNozzo paused, collecting his thoughts as he raked his fingers through his dusty hair. "You ever gone to see a foreign film where there aren't any subtitles? You get the general gist of the movie, but all the details pass you by, and you keep thinking that those details must be pretty important. This whole day's been like that Boss."


	8. Chapter 8

McGee had been behind the closed doors of the emergency room for over an hour by the time Major Harrison arrived to give his report. Everyone was happy to hear that the twin boys had no injuries beyond a few scrapes and bruises and were already on their way back home. As Harrison finished, the Captain who had taken over at the scene arrived to give them an update before returning to the mountain. Gibbs could feel the multiple sets of eyes on his back as he listened. The suspect appeared to have taken his own life when he heard the Marines breaking through the wall of rocks that had separated him from the agents and the young boys he had kidnapped. The sound of a final shot, a bullet wound to the temple, and a pistol still clutched in his hand made it a likely scenario, but it would be up to Ducky to make the final determination. Since the Medical Examiner and his assistant had only arrived at Bethesda moments ago to wait with the rest of them the autopsy would have to wait. He expected the rest of his people to be happy at the announcement, but the women in the private waiting room were furious.

"He took the coward's way out, Gibbs." Abby's plaintive wail echoed in the small room while Ziva shook her head in anger.

"Without a direct link to Maycap, how can I interrogate him?"

Jenny was leaning back against the wall behind her chair and didn't even open her eyes as she answered Ziva. "We'll find a link, and then Maycap is yours, Ziva."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Abby grinned. "Oh, can I watch?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Who's Maycap?" Once he had their attention, Gibbs continued. "Are the three of you ready to tell us what is going on?" Next to him DiNozzo watched, his rabid curiosity masked by his carefully blank expression. Harrison made no attempt to cover his curiosity as he took the last empty seat in the room. Ducky leaned forward, ready to listen while Palmer blinked repeatedly as he tried to take everything in.

The three women glanced at each other before Shepard broke their silence. "Not quite twenty years ago Gregory Maycap was a serial killer who kidnapped, tortured and then murdered several sets of twin boys. All of the twins were dependents of the military and all of them were kidnapped right off the base they were living on. At the site of each abduction, a tarot card was found." She waited as the shocked men in the room absorbed what she had said.

DiNozzo was the first to recover, possibly because he had heard the basics and had been observing his partner since the call had come in. "One of the sets of twins were McGee's brothers, right? His older brothers I bet." He turned to their boss. "McGee was so intense, like it was personal."

"It was personal, but…"

Ziva interrupted Abby, her photographic memory a blessing and a curse as she remembered each and every detail from the report. "The last set of twins kidnapped were Terrance and Timothy McGee. He killed Terrance, but Tim survived his injuries."

"Oh, Timothy, our poor, poor lad." Ducky's mournful words expressed everyone's thoughts as they ached for their friend. "What happened? How did he survive?"

Ziva continued, not looking at any of them, not even Abby who was holding her hand tightly. "After Maycap would kidnap them, apparently he would hide them in some sort of hole, sometimes a dry well or an abandoned mine shaft. It was later determined this was to terrify and exhaust his victims. It is possible that he stayed close enough to hear their struggles and cries for help."

"McGee talked about a window of time or something that we had before the boys would be hurt. Something about how long they would be intact if he was right."

The dark haired Israeli woman agreed with her team mate. "Yes, after a time, he would remove the youngest twin from the hole and begin to hurt him. It would start with a beating and progress from there. Eventually, the injuries would become fatal. He would force the older twin to watch; at some point he would duct tape their hands together. Near the end, he would take them to a high peak and shoot the surviving twin. The bodies would be found sometimes hundreds of feet down a ravine, still duct taped together. None of the bullets were recovered. Due to the small size of the victims, each shot was a through and through."

Palmer felt sick and was grateful that they weren't going to have two small bodies on their autopsy tables in the morning. "How did McGee survive the gunshot wound?"

This time it was Jenny who filled in the blanks. "He didn't. Tim was the younger brother."

Feeling like he'd just been sucker punched, Gibbs scrambled to his feet, but before he could say anything, Tony was almost shouting. "He was the younger brother – he was the one being tortured? How bad?" He turned to the one woman he knew would not hold back as he repeated the question. "How bad?"

Ziva made no attempt to hide her anguish. "I do not understand how such monsters could be allowed to live freely in this country. In Israel he would have been killed after the first time he hurt a child." Before she could reveal any details of their friend's ordeal, a doctor came in to speak with them.

"How is he?"

"Can we see him yet?"

The questions were being fired off before Dr. Adler finished introducing himself. He looked around in surprise at the worried people ready to grill him. "I really need to speak with Agent McGee's family first. Are his parents here?"

There was a moment of stunned silence before Jenny Shepard stepped forward, grabbing Gibbs' arm on the way. "We're right here, so tell us how our boy is doing?" When the doctor hesitated, Jenny put a deliberate tremble in her voice as she continued. "Please, it's been a very long day. Is Timmy going to be all right?"

If the doctor had any questions, the 'tearful mother' put a stop to them. "He's going to be fine eventually but I will warn you, he's going to have a long and uncomfortable recovery ahead of him. He has suffered three separate hairline fractures of his right scapula plus another fracture in the humerus up near the shoulder. He'll be in a sling for about six weeks then probably some physical therapy will be necessary but he should regain full strength and mobility in his arm and shoulder. He's also got a mild concussion from the blow to his forehead. I don't expect any lasting problem from that as long as he takes it easy for the next few weeks while the injury resolves itself. The injury that is going to be the most troublesome will be the one to his hand. We're going to be spending several hours at least digging all of the debris out of the torn skin. That's going to have to wait until we get his blood sugar back up and get some fluids in him."

"Why?" Gibbs frowned at the doctor. "Isn't waiting going to increase the chance of infection?"

"We've already got him on an antibiotic drip for the infection. I won't lie to you, Mr. McGee. This is going to be very painful and because of his head injury we'd prefer not to give him heavy narcotics for the next twenty four hours. Dehydration and low blood sugar are two additional complications he doesn't need right now."

Before Dr. Adler could leave, Jenny grasped his hand to shake it. "Thank you, Doctor."

"Your welcome." He returned the handshake as he studied the woman. "If I may say, your son has your eyes."

Jenny bit back a smile. "Thank you again, Dr. Adler. Luckily, he also has his father's stubborn streak." Gibbs choked back a laugh as the doctor agreed with her.

"It's probably a good thing. It's most likely what kept him alive."

All of a sudden Gibbs didn't feel like laughing anymore.

_____________________

In the medical wing of a prison less than one hundred miles from Bethesda, Gregory Maycap stared at the ceiling, smiling. He would have recognized anywhere that 'unknown federal agent' znn had shown stumbling out of the tunnel on its live broadcast. His greatest unfinished masterpiece could now be finished.


	9. Chapter 9

Quietly, the nurse tiptoed through the dozing people to get to the person she was looking for. "Mr. McGee, sir?" When she received no response, she tapped Gibbs on the shoulder. For a moment he was confused, then remembered why she was calling him Mr. McGee. To cover his lapse, he rubbed at his face as if he were still trying to wake up. The nurse waited for a few seconds then continued. "They're going to start working on your son's hand now. It will be pretty uncomfortable even with the local we are giving him. The doctor thought it might be easier for him to have his father with him." She smiled and gave him an out. "Unless you're squeamish; it's not going to be pleasant."

"No, I can handle it." Gibbs quietly cursed the situation. Touchy-feely wasn't his strong suit and he wasn't sure how his youngest agent would feel about having his boss there when he was so vulnerable.

"Dad?" Tony knew that there was only one way he was going to get in to see his probie and he was going to take it. When Gibbs nodded he rushed to meet them at the entry to the emergency unit. Once the three of them were on the other side of the door, the nurse turned and studied the two men.

"I've been a Navy nurse for over half my life and if there is one thing I've learned in this job it's that family is a whole lot more complicated than blood." Busted, they waited for her to continue. "Just make sure his biological family isn't out of the loop, all right?"

Properly chastised, Gibbs gave an affirmative nod as DiNozzo grinned beside him as she lowered her voice. "Dr. Alder hasn't been in the military very long and has never seen combat, so he doesn't understand like the rest of us do. Just remember that."

______________________

Major Harrison moved to the chair Gibbs had vacated and sat down next to Jenny. The Director watched him through half closed eyelids as he opened his mouth to speak several times. Eventually she sat up. "Whatever you're working up to, Major, just spit it out."

"Ma'am, I just wanted to know that we're grateful for all the help your people gave us today and to apologize." Harrison studied the cap in his hand as he spoke.

"Apologize for what, Major Harrison?"

"I didn't take your man, McGee, seriously. He had good instincts and I shot him down."

"You underestimated him." It was a statement, not a question. She had seen it happen before, she had been guilty of it before but that wasn't something the Director of NCIS would ever admit to.

"Yes, Ma'am. I should have sent one squad of men with him and his partner. If I had, maybe he wouldn't have been injured. He's just so darn young, and with what he lived through as a kid… He has every right to be angry with me. I just hope he will accept my apologies."

Jenny thought through her words carefully as she spoke. "I may not know Agent McGee as well as some of the older agents, but what I do know of him is that he is slow to anger and very quick to forgive. All he will care about is that those little boys are home safe with their mother. It's going to take some time for him to recover from his injuries and from reliving what happened to him as a child, but he will have whatever help he needs."

Harrison gave a slow grin. "Quite an interesting family the young man has here. I'd like to consider myself a second cousin if I may."

"On his father's side?"

"Of course, Ma'am." He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, mirroring the rest of the family at rest.

______________________

By unspoken agreement, Tony was the first one to step up to the gurney that held his temporary little brother. After all, if the first words out of McGee's mouth were Boss or Gibbs it would be hard to explain. "Hey, Tim."

"Tony…" If anything, the kid looked worse than he had earlier. Bruises were now fully formed, covering his forehead and most of the left side of his face. Scrapes that Tony hadn't noticed before covered his right temple, but the worst was his hand. The beam of the flashlight had barely given him a glimpse of how torn the skin was in comparison to the view the bright lights here now gave.

"Hey, Timmy." DiNozzo tilted Tim's face slightly to look him in the eye to make sure he was understood. "The doctors won't let any of your friends in right now, so it's just Dad and me, okay?" He willed his friend to understand what he was saying. "Gonna have to settle for big brother and Dad for a little while."

The green eyes cleared for a moment as Tim's gaze moved between DiNozzo and Gibbs. "Hey, Dad." He gave a weak smile, and then grew serious. "Thanks."

As predicted, it took hours for the doctor to properly cleanse and treat the wounds on McGee's hand. No amount of painkillers short of the heavy narcotics they were loath to use could totally blunt the pain. Gibbs had been in battle, had seen his fellow Marines torn apart by bullets and land mines, but none of it had been as hard on him or left him feeling so helpless as the quiet gasps and trembling of his youngest agent.

"You're doing fine, son. Just focus on me, Tim." Gibbs sat at the head of the emergency room bed, a hand on each side of McGee's face as he bent over to maintain eye contact with the young man. He had done this with Kelly – kept her distracted while Shannon had cleaned and bandaged her skinned knees after her first day of bike riding – but never with an injury this bad. He refused to think about how easy it had been to slip into the role of father to one of the men under his command.

While Gibbs had chosen not to focus on the bloody hand, Tony found himself unable to look away. Basin after basin of quickly tinted water were used to clean away the dried blood and dirt before they began picking out the larger pieces of rock and grit with tweezers, using gauze to wipe at the blood their actions was bring up to the surface. As the pile of used cotton grew, so did Tony's nausea. Next, the doctor moved from the tweezers to a small scrub brush and began to rework the worst of the areas. Tony broke out in a cold sweat, unaware that he was now under the observation of one of the nurses in the room.

He breathed a sigh of relief as the brush was abandoned, but it was short lived as the doctor moved on to a small implement he didn't recognize and pulled a large magnifying glass over to give an even better view to not only the doctor but Tony as well. Methodically, Dr. Alder examined the exposed tendon that helped attach Tim's index finger to his hand, flexing the finger to make sure the tendon and the tissue surrounding it were repaired enough to heal without loss of function. As the tendon flexed, Tony's ears became ice cold, but he ignored the sensation, fixated on the sight in front of him. He blinked and found himself sitting on a stool, someone's hand forcing his head down between his knees. Embarrassed, but too light-headed to fight it, he remained like that until the hand was removed. He looked up in time to see the doctor cut into Tim's nail bed of his middle finger to drain the blood and fluid that was collecting there. He swallowed convulsively as the nurse grabbed him and rushed him out the door. They barely made it across the hall to a small restroom before the meager snack he had eaten in the helicopter made its reappearance.

Tony hung his head as he leaned against the sink. Needing to fill the silence he spoke to the nurse still standing behind him. "I haven't tossed my cookies like that since I was rookie at my first crime scene."

She rubbed his back and handed him a paper cup. "This isn't some random victim in there, it's your brother." As he straightened up their eyes met in the mirror. "Your kid brother if I'm not mistaken, right?" He didn't quite know what to say to that so he just nodded. It wasn't as true as she may think, but her words were truer than he cared to admit.

By the time she let him back into the room, they were almost finished wrapping a loose dressing over McGee's hand. Gibbs looked away from Tim as he silently asked the question.

"I'm okay." DiNozzo's answer was verbal, but barely. This time he sat rather than stood, with his back to the doctor's ministrations and focused his attention to his friend's face. The skin was even greyer, if that were possible and damp with sweat and tears. He didn't even seem aware of the tears still leaking from his half closed eyelids nor the fact that Gibbs was gently wiping them away with his thumbs.

A nurse leaned over and patted McGee's uninjured shoulder. "We'll let you rest here a bit, Agent McGee before we move you to a room upstairs. Your mother and the rest of the family can see you once we get you settled, but your dad and your brother can stay here with you." She checked the IV one last time before following the rest of the medical personnel out the door.

They had barely cleared the room before Tim started becoming restless. "Terry, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Terry, I didn't mean to get you killed." His mutterings were soft, almost sub-vocal, but the other two occupants of the room heard as if it had been shouted.

"It's all right, son. Everything's going to be fine." If Gibbs thought he was going to calm the younger man he thought wrong.

"Dad? Dad, I'm sorry, he killed Terry because I wasn't fast enough. It's my fault."

"No. No, Timmy, it's not your fault." Frantically, Gibbs tried to think of a way to get through to the injured man. "He was a bad man, Tim, and you were just a little boy. Nothing he did was your fault." He continued to soothe and started to relax as McGee began to fade off. Surprisingly, Tim's eyes opened and locked with Gibbs' for a brief moment.

"Grandpa said it was. He said the monster killed the wrong one. Terry was the important one."

Before Gibbs could take an unimpeded breath, let alone think of a response, Tim was sound asleep as the drugs, pain and exhaustion finally won the war.


	10. Chapter 10

Silently, the two men followed along as McGee was moved to a private room on the third floor. Gibbs was sure that 'Mom' had pulled a few strings to achieve that, but he wasn't going to argue. Once they arrived on the third floor, they were pointed to the lounge where the rest of the 'family' was waiting, minus Major Harrison who had finally returned to base. Still too stunned to complain, they followed the duty nurse who insisted on escorting them in. Once inside she held up her hands to stop the questions.

"We've given him a strong sedative and he's not going to wake up until morning. We are getting him settled into bed right now and then family can come in for just a minute, starting with Mom. After that, I'd suggest that everyone go home and get a good night's rest." She turned to the older brother, deciding he was the best to answer her question. "Besides your parents, who is here from the family?"

DiNozzo was definitely a bit loopy by this point, not that anyone could tell the difference between that and his normal state of being. He took a deep breath and began the introductions. "This is our half-sister, Abby, we share the same Dad. That's our half-sister, Ziva, from Mom's side of the family. Over there is Gramps." With an amused expression, Ducky gave a wave to the nurse. "Next to him is our cousin, Jimmy."

The nurse looked around at the group, ready to question, then decided she really didn't want to know. As she hid her smile, she escorted Jenny to wish her son goodnight.

_____________________

Jenny Shepard had been a good field agent, and an even better undercover operative. Entering the darkened hospital room she prepared to put on the persona of the worried mother. Once inside, she found the worried director persona was quite enough.

"Oh, Tim." She ran her hand across his hair studying the bruises that marred his face. His quick mind was such an asset to NCIS, one that she always assumed would be there, ready to assist, shrugging off the jokes and teasing that came from his more physical and aggressive counterparts. Just how close had they come to losing him to the rocks in the cave-in, never mind how close they came to losing him before they ever got a chance to know him was something she wasn't ready to think about. Underneath her hand he shivered and she turned to the nurse checking his chart. "Could we get another blanket?" Somehow, helping tuck the flannel around his still form made her feel better.

A silent decision sent Abby in next. She couldn't find a way to hug him the way she wanted, so she settled for gently laying her cheek on his forehead. "Wow, he's really warm. Can we get rid of this extra blanket?" The nurse smiled and helped Abby fold the blanket down to the foot of the bed.

Ziva was next to enter the small room. She pulled the chair next to the bed and sat down, leaning her crutches against the wall. She watched him sleep as she ran her fingertips over the bed rail. Eventually she leaned forward, resting her face on the rail as she spoke. "You know how much I hate hospitals, Timothy. We need you better so we can take you home and Tony can tease you and I can fix all your favorite foods." She realized that she had no idea what McGee's favorites were. He was polite enough that he would never admit he didn't like any homemade treat that made it into work. She would have to figure it out for herself. Pleased to have a plan, she palmed the side of his face as she stood. His face felt cool to her hand, so she turned to the nurse. "He seems a bit chilled; would you help me with this blanket?"

Ducky and Palmer visited together, grilling the nursing staff as to the care his 'grandson' would be receiving. While they were in the room, Ziva watched Tony. Concerned, she moved closer. "Are you all right?" She stood in front of him; he stared off into space over the top of her head. When she repeated her question he finally gave a short, jerky negative shake of his head. Before she could press him further, Jimmy and Ducky returned to the waiting area and Gibbs herded the entire group down the elevator and outside.

__________________

Dawn was a few precious hours away as the group clustered together in the parking lot, as Gibbs gave them orders. "Ducky, I want you and Abby to identify the suspect. The body should be there by 06-hundred." They both were eager to get started and Ducky immediately got out his phone, checking to see if the body had arrived ahead of schedule. Knowing that they had it well in hand, he moved on.

"Ziva, as soon as they have an identity, start connecting him to Maycap." The Israeli was pleased but had a question. "What about Evans?" Realizing she had not mentioned him to anyone else, she hurried on. "Marty Evans was the lead investigator of the original case. McGee has kept in touch with him over the years."

"Not tonight, we'll worry about him later." Dismissing the retired agent from his mind, Gibbs went on to assign the mast important task. "Tony, find the grandfather, make sure he's dead."

"You got it, Boss." The steel in DiNozzo's voice instantly set off alarm in the rest of the team.

Jenny raised an eyebrow as she turned to Gibbs. "Why does he need to be dead?"

For the first time since the call came in, Gibbs allowed his anger to show. "Because I don't have time right now to kill that son of a bitch myself." He turned and began to move back to the hospital entrance. "Meet back here at 09-hundred – that's when visiting hours start, and Jenny, don't call his parents yet. Wait 'til I'm there. "

"Jethro, where are you going?" Ducky had planned on giving his old friend a ride home.

Gibbs didn't even turn as he answered. "Staying here. 09-hundred, sharp people."

Once he was out of earshot, Jenny turned to DiNozzo. "Why doesn't he want me to call Tim's family, and what's the deal about the Grandfather?"

Tony didn't even attempt to mask the bitterness in his voice. "His grandfather told him that he should have been the one that died." In the shocked silence he continued. "I think the Boss wants to hear his parent's reaction himself to know if they believe it too."

__________________

After conning a cup of coffee from the woman at the nurses' station, Gibbs quietly entered McGee's hospital room. He settled into the lone chair in the room and watched the restless sleep that trapped the young man. Eventually he stood up and leaned over the bed. "Hey, kiddo, let's get rid of this extra blanket." He didn't have a clue why the nurse walking down the hallway started laughing.


	11. Chapter 11

Thanks so much to everyone for the wonderful comments, they do make my day. To respond to a few questions that have been asked.

Sarah is indeed still his sister, she will come into play when Gibbs and the Director call his family.

Yes, some of the medical staff knows the truth about the "family", but not all of them.

More details about the grandfather are coming, mostly in the next chapter to be posted. I like to play with shades of grey in a character. Gibbs and co will never forgive him, but they may come to understand him just a bit.

Yes, I play with the variations of Tim's name quite a bit. In the case of Ziva, she has studied the original case file more than anyone else to the point she has it memorized. That is forcing her to see McGee as a person rather than just a member of the team. She may not be entirely comfortable with that yet and referring to him as Timothy allows her to keep a step back from him personally so to speak as Tim or Timmy is even more personal. Of course the fact that some of the staff thinks she is his half sister also forces her to call him by his first name.

* * *

At thirty minutes before the appointed hour, Jenny Shepard quietly slipped into McGee's hospital room, two cups of coffee in her hands. She was only slightly surprised to find DiNozzo already there handing his boss a cup of coffee. Quietly she told Gibbs she had located McGee's family on vacation on the west coast and the phone number to their cabin was available whenever he was ready. Five minutes later Abby arrived along with Ziva. Ziva was only using one crutch today, her other arm full of papers and a cup of coffee for Gibbs. Abby carried her ever present caf-pow plus a coffee for the boss.

When Ducky arrived empty handed, Gibbs was almost disappointed until he saw Palmer straggling behind him with a tray of pastries from the bakery near the yard. After everyone had checked over the still sleeping McGee they adjourned to the empty third floor lounge to bring one another up to speed. Ducky and Abby went first while Palmer struggled with the plastic lid on the pastry tray.

"We've identified the suspect as Harold Wilson. Abby found he had an entire laundry list of priors, but that probably is a bit of a mute point now."

Jenny interrupted the Medical Examiner before he could get off on a tangent. "Can we tie him to Maycap?"

"Yes we can." Ziva gleefully took over. "Wilson and Maycap were both patients in the same medical research program. They are refusing to turn over any medical records for either man so far, but the coordinator I spoke to confirmed that the two were assigned treatment beds next to each other."

"Duck, did the autopsy give you any clues as to what sort of treatment Wilson was receiving?" Gibbs finished the coffee DiNozzo had brought him and reached for the one from Jenny as Dr. Mallard shook his head.

"No, I'm afraid not, Jethro. The man was in perfect physical health which leads me to believe that whatever treatment those two monsters were receiving it was not for a condition of the body but of the mind. Abigail is running tox screens of his blood, stomach lining, and tissue samples from his liver and brain as we speak."

"How long, Abs?"

Abby knew the question was coming. "Can't rush the science, Gibbs. I should have the first results this afternoon, but remember it's medical research. Identifying the chemical markers of a drug is one thing; knowing what it does to the human body is something totally different. That is really more of a McGee thing. He's the one with the degree in Bio-Medical Engineering."

"No, I don't want any of this getting back to him. He's got enough of a job to do just recovering. Do what you can; we'll call in outside help if we need to. DiNozzo, what have you got?"

Tony was still subdued, though he didn't appear to Ziva to be as haunted as he had appeared the day before. "Grandpa McGee was one Terrance Jamison McGee III, which made Probie's twin brother the fifth generation Terrance Jamison McGee. Old Man McGee was Navy, which we knew, but Old, Old Man McGee was also Navy. According to his records, Grandpa was a POW in Vietnam and never quite was the same after that."

Abby sniffed, still angry over what the man had said to his traumatized grandson. "It still doesn't excuse what he told Timmy."

"No, it doesn't, Abs."

Tony waited for Abby and Gibbs to have their say before continuing. "After Vietnam he became obsessed with getting his son into Annapolis, and then after the twins were born he flat became obsessed with his namesake."

"Where is he now?"

"Dead, Boss, like you were hoping… The family reported him missing when Tim was about twelve. He was found dead in a snow bank outside Denver about two years later."

Ziva had a small smile on her face, the one that always made Anthony DiNozzo nervous. "So, the cold-hearted bastard froze to death. In Israel, we call that poetic justice."

"Actually, it was alcohol poisoning. Apparently he became an alcoholic after he was forced to take a medical discharge from the Navy."

"It appears that he never really left the prison camps behind." Ducky gave the others a hard look. "You may want to vilify the man, but right now we have no idea about the circumstances of what he told Timothy."

"Duck…"

"No, Jethro. For all we know, Tim may have overheard the ramblings of a drunkard. To a sensitive and traumatized child it would have been just as devastating as a direct accusation." Ducky moved to stand in front of Gibbs. "Our energy needs to be focused on helping that young man, not punishing a set of molding bones in some grave somewhere."

Even if Gibbs wasn't ready to give up on punishing quite yet, he agreed with Ducky about the team's focus. Picking up his two remaining full coffees he moved to the door. Eager to see their young teammate, the rest of the group followed.

____________________

The sensation of being watched woke McGee from his restless sleep. Blinking, he found his bed surrounded. Abby and his teammates were not a surprise. In a way, Ducky with Palmer behind him was not that much of a surprise either. The one person he was not expecting at his bedside was Director Shepard.

"Ma'am." Tim struggled to sit up, realizing quickly that at the moment he was a prisoner of his own body.

"Easy, Buddy." Tony was on the other side of the bed, his hand on Tim's chest to still his efforts. "Let me help." When McGee nodded, he used the controls to move the injured man into a more upright position.

Once settled, McGee turned back to the Director. "I heard the nurses talking about my mom and dad…"

Jenny smiled at the blushing agent. "It was my idea…" she waited for a second, "…son."

Once he was rendered speechless she moved back and Gibbs took her place. Before he could ask, McGee interrupted with a question of his own. "Are Kevin and Kyle all right? Did we get the guy? It was a copy-cat and not Maycap, right?"

Gibbs didn't try to hide his pride at the younger agent's priorities. "The boys are both fine and back home. The suspect's name was Harold Wilson and he is in a drawer in autopsy."

"Thanks to you, Probie."

"You were there too, Tony."

DiNozzo just stared at him, the silence forcing McGee to look up at him. Once he had the other man's attention, Tony continued. "You almost got yourself killed protecting them in that cave-in. You anticipated what the suspect was going to do, knew what to do about it, and how to get those scared little kids to trust you."

"You knew what to do because you had been where they were." Gibbs watched Ziva as she spoke, not sure if McGee was ready to talk about what had happened to him or sure if they were ready to hear about it. Unaware of the blue eyes watching her, she continued. "The file you had me pull gave the basic facts of what Maycap did to his victims. Connecting the dots was not…" she paused as she struggled to find the proper word, "…pretty. I know it is difficult, but can you…"

"Fill in the blanks?" It was a long time after she nodded before he began to speak.

"I just remember bits and pieces of when he had us. I remember how bad it hurt and that I passed out a few time while he was beating me. The last time I woke up in that cave, he had taped our hands together. Terry was so mad that he was crying. We were just a few feet away from the hole he had kept us in and Terry kicked him as hard as he could. Maycap lost his balance and fell in the hole. As soon as he fell, Terry started yelling at me to run. I couldn't keep up and Terry was dragging me with him." McGee took a shuddering breath before continuing.

"He should have left me behind but he couldn't because we were tied together. We almost made it to the mouth of the cave when Terry was shot. It, the bullet, hit him in the back of the head. Maycap was so strong; he picked the two of us up like it was nothing and started walking." Tim's eyes flickered around, but the others knew he was not seeing them, but the events of that day. "The next thing I remember he was standing on the edge of a cliff."

"He left you on the edge of a cliff attached to your brother's body?"

McGee looked at his boss for the first time since he had started telling them. "No, he threw us off the edge. We got caught on a tree part way down."

The phobia about heights was now clearly understood and in graphic detail.

When McGee's voice faded off Ziva filled in the next detail knowing the rest of the group needed to know what happened. "Maycap was arrested leaving the area wearing bloodstained clothing. He refused to answer any questions."

Gibbs sat on the edge of bed, resting his hand on the nearest blanket covered knee. "Did Maycap know you survived the fall?"

"Yeah. He, umm, he knew. He was laughing, and then I was alone with… Terry."

"How long were you there before you were rescued?"

Tim couldn't give the Director an exact answer. "It got dark. It was dark for a long time and then when it was light enough to see, there were maggots on Terry's, umm, what was left of his face. After the next time it was dark, they were down his arms, so I guess two, maybe two and a half days." He stopped and gave a visible shudder.

"I remember hearing a helicopter, and then men were climbing down on ropes. One of them cut me loose and carried me up to solid ground. He used his canteen and washed the maggots off of me, then wrapped me up in his NIS jacket and carried me out of there – didn't let go of me until he had me at the hospital."

"Was that Special Agent Evans?" Jenny made a mental note to personally thank the man when McGee gave an exhausted nod in return.

That was Abby's cue, so she reached past Tony and grabbed the controls for the bed. Tim was asleep before the bed was completely horizontal.

The team watched him sleep for a few minutes before Gibbs began giving orders. "Ziva, keep digging into Maycap's connection with Wilson and what this research was all about. Abs, I want you to keep trying to identify whatever medications they were giving the two of them. Have Ducky and Palmer help you if you need it." The four of them gathered their things and prepared to leave as Gibbs turned to Tony. "DiNozzo!"

"Yeah, Boss?"

"Stay here."

"Thanks, Boss." Gibbs was relieved that DiNozzo wasn't going to argue about staying at the hospital. After telling such a horrific story there was no way he wanted McGee to wake up alone. Besides, he had another motive in wanting DiNozzo to stay behind.

"See if you can get him talking about his family some more. The expression on Tony's face showed that he understood exactly what Gibbs wanted to know.

Ziva stopped in the doorway, forcing Abby, Ducky and Palmer to stop also. She turned to Gibbs. "Do you remember the dead sailor that was found in that abandoned nightclub – the body that was covered with maggots?" She looked back at their slumbering teammate. "You ordered him to collect all the maggots at the scene."

Gibbs winced at the memory. At the time it had seemed funny to assign that distasteful job to his most squeamish agent. He no longer found it amusing, but to Ziva it was even worse.

"After you left, he offered me one hundred dollars to trade jobs and I laughed. I laughed at him, Gibbs." Knowing that there was no answer possible, she continued out the door.

Gibbs looked over at DiNozzo one last time before ushering Jenny towards the door. "I think it's time we called his family."

"You ready for that?"

"Nope. Let's just get it over with."


	12. Chapter 12

A short chapter, but it needed to be a stand-alone. Again, thanks for all the comments.

* * *

Gibbs sat across from Director Shepard at the table in her office, the speaker phone placed between them. As the call went through, Gibbs still wasn't sure exactly what he was going to say to McGee's father. He didn't think Jenny knew either.

_"Hello?"_

"Mrs. McGee? This is Jenny Shepard; I'm the Director of NCIS."

_"Tim's boss? Is he all right, has something happened? He's not… he's not…"_

Jethro Gibbs never could handle a panicking woman and stepped in. "He was injured ma'am, but he's going to be just fine. I'm Agent Gibbs, I work with your son. Are your husband and daughter there with you? It might be better if we explain it to all of you."

_"No, Terrance and Sarah are out deep sea fishing today. I don't do well in the open water and their boat won't be back for hours. What happened to Tim?"_

Jenny cocked her head at her former partner and he took over the conversation. He decided to be blunt to see what kind of reaction he got. "Twin boys were kidnapped yesterday by a man trying to duplicate what Gregory Maycap had done." A gasp over the phone told him that she certainly remembered the man. "Tim was injured while rescuing the boys." There was a long pause before Tim's mother said anything in response.

_"If Tim's injuries were serious, the hospital would have called. What else are you telling me, Agent Gibbs?"_

Apparently nothing got past Mama McGee, but Gibbs refused to feel guilty about the lack of contact from the hospital. Jenny felt she should broach the subject rather than Gibbs. If the family were to become angry at being kept out of the loop, that responsibility fell to her as director. "Tim's knowledge about the original case saved the lives of those two boys. We were just surprised to hear about what happened to him. We had no idea that Tim had a twin, it came as a bit of a surprise."

_To all of us, Director Shepard. We had no idea we were expecting twins until the delivery room."_

"Really? Isn't that very unusual?

_"Timmy was tucked behind his brother during my entire pregnancy. The doctors never noticed him. He was so tiny when he was born, that the doctors were amazed he had survived at all. He had to stay in the neonatal unit for over a month until he was strong enough to go home while Terry was a full size, normal baby. Even after that, he was considered medically fragile for years afterwards. I'm afraid their father never quite knew what to do with Timmy."_

"So, he was closer to Terry than to Tim?"

_"What does all of this have to do with Tim being hurt on the job?"_

They exchanged a grimace before Jenny continued. "It doesn't, exactly. Tim is going to be fine physically, but this case obviously brought back some painful memories and we want to know the best way to help him through it."

_"I see."_

There was a long silence; just as they were beginning to think she had hung up, McGee's mother began to speak again.

_"I'm going to have to ask you to not speak about any of this to Sarah. She doesn't know anything about her late brother. She was just a baby when it happened."_

Gibbs could not believe what he was hearing. "Sarah doesn't know? Do you mean that Tim never talked about what happened to him?"

_"We're not heartless, Agent Gibbs. We sent Tim to see a therapist to deal with what happened to his brother, but we saw no point in hurting Sarah over a brother she was too young to remember. We transferred to a different base as soon as the doctors let Timmy come home and he knew not to talk about it outside of his therapy sessions."_

"So Terry just disappeared."

_"It was very difficult on my husband when we lost Terry. The constant reminders would have been too much to bear."_

They had returned to Gibbs' earlier question. "He was closer to Terry than to Tim?"

_"My husband was the spitting image of his father. Terry was an exact replica of Terrance. The three of them had the same temperament, the same likes, everything. Timmy was just so different; Terrance didn't know how to relate to him, still doesn't. It doesn't make him a bad father."_

Gibbs wasn't sure at that moment if he agreed with the woman or not. "You do realize that Tim is still suffering from survivor's guilt?"

_"We did the best we could. As a Navy family, all of our dreams died with Terry. That is not an easy thing to live with, Agent Gibbs. Until you lose a child you will never understand what it is like."_

Jenny cringed at the thoughtless words as Gibbs stood up and leaned over the speaker, his voice quieter and deadlier than she had heard in many years. "I know exactly what it is like to lose a child, Mrs. McGee. The one thing I can tell you is that if I had been lucky enough to have another child survive that night…" He swallowed hard before continuing. "Not a day would have gone by that she wouldn't have known how loved and cherished she was."


	13. Chapter 13

"Hey, you awake?" Tony pounced the moment he saw a flicker of green eyes opening. "Probie?"

"Yeah." His voice sounded rusty, DiNozzo had spent enough time in the hospital to remember what it was like to wake up from a drug induced sleep and had a water glass ready. A few sips from the straw made a world of difference in the way he sounded.

"You got stuck with babysitting duty?"

In answer, he got the famous DiNozzo grin. "Wanted to make sure you woke up to a beautiful sight."

The banter felt surprisingly good and he sounded stronger the more he spoke. "What beautiful sight would that be?"

"Why, this one of course." Tony framed his face with his hands as he spoke. Before he could wind up completely a nurse arrived to interrupt.

"Mr. McGee, you were supposed to tell us when your brother woke up." She bustled past him and began to check McGee. He ignored most of what was going on, still stuck on Tony being called Mr. McGee. Eventually satisfied, she left and the two men were alone again.

"You guys really made them believe we were related?"

DiNozzo raised the bed to make it easier for his partner to see him. "It didn't take that much work to convince them. A couple of the nurses saw right through it, but they played along."

"Can't be doing much for your social life." McGee took careful stock of how he was feeling. Other than his hand, he was comfortably numb. He tilted his hand up to take a better look at the bandages covering it.

Tony grasped his wrist and eased it back on the pillow used to support it. Even with the heavy gauze covering it, he was sure that Tim didn't want to see it quite yet. "What do you mean? I'll have you know I've gotten the phone numbers of four nurses so far."

"Four? How'd you manage that if they think you're my brother?" He was beginning to fade again, eyes closed as he talked.

"Easy, I'm the suave, sophisticated older brother, worrying over my baby brother. The ladies love that." He watched and waited for the right moment, for when Tim was almost asleep. "What was Terry like?"

Just as Tony had hoped, the pain killers and exhaustion had lowered the younger man's defenses and he answered his partner's question without hesitation. "Terry was great; he was everything I'm not. He was a lot like you."

"What do you mean?" He wasn't sure if that was a complement or not.

"Everybody loved Terry. He was smart and funny. We were only eight and he already had the girls fighting over him." Tim had a slight smile on his face as he remembered.

Tony didn't have quite as much of a smile. "A lady killer at eight, huh. Didn't you guys look alike?"

"Nah, I was the runt, everybody said so."

"The runt? How come?"

"Sick all the time, had a heart murmur. Terry was supposed to grow up and be an Admiral – the first one in the family." The rambling got quieter, but there was one thing Tony wasn't quite ready to let go of yet.

"You're the one that grew up and went to MIT, how come you think he was the smart one?"

The smile grew sad. "He was smart about the important stuff. Bobby's brother had to watch all of us kids one day." He started to fade out so DiNozzo nudged him slightly to keep him on track long enough to tell about Bobby. Somehow, he knew it was important.

"What happened with Bobby?"

"He was in high school, had his homework on the table and I saw it."

Another nudge kept him going. "You saw his homework? What was it?"

"Calculus, but he did it wrong, got the wrong answer. I told him the right answer." Tim's eyes drifted shut for a second but then opened again before Tony could prompt him. "His girlfriend laughed, thought it was funny."

Tony had a bad feeling where this was headed as Tim continued. "Bobby said I cheated, that I looked it up someplace – was going to beat me up. Terry stood up to him, threatened to tell on him."

"Good for Terry." This time the words went unheard and unanswered.

_________________

"Ducky, do any of these compounds mean anything to you?" Abby leaned against the door into autopsy, a large printout in her hands.

The medical examiner looked up from his contemplation of Wilson's autopsy findings, glad for the interruption. "Let's take a look, my dear." He reached out and took the papers, studying them closely. Mr. Palmer leaned over his shoulder, hoping to contribute. He saw one that he recognized.

" Dihydrocodeinone enol acetate - that's an opioid."

"Quite correct, Jimmy, and this one here looks to be a synthetic form of R-cytodine monophosphate."

Abby nodded in agreement. "Yes, but what are they doing in Wilson's blood and brain tissue? What were those researchers doing to him and Maycap?"

Ducky didn't have an answer to that, but Jimmy had a question. A question none of them had been willing to vocalize quite yet. "Does it have anything to do with what Wilson was going to do to those boys, or are we wasting our time? Should we be looking for something else?"

"It's connected, I know it is." The set of Abby's jaw told the two men not to bother arguing with her. "Besides, why else would the director of the research program give Ziva the run-around?"

Ducky just raised his eyebrows at her question while Palmer shuddered in silent agreement. The Israeli woman scared him enough that he couldn't imagine not telling her everything she wanted to know.

__________________

It seemed like he had just closed his eyes when a tap to his face brought McGee awake again. "You ready to eat?" Tim blinked to find DiNozzo cheerfully cutting up a slightly odd colored slice of meatloaf. "It's the middle of the afternoon, they really want you to eat something." He glanced down at his hands. His right arm was securely strapped down, giving him only inches of movement for that hand. His left hand was heavily bandaged still and Tim couldn't imagine holding a fork in it yet. That only left the option of… he looked at Tony to find him patiently holding a fork full of meat. He groaned, knowing he really would feel better once he had some food in him.

"Okay, just no airplane noises, Tony." He hoped his glare would make his point.

"Of course not, Probie," Tony gave a wide grin before continuing. "We're Naval Investigators, so it's a tug boat. Toot, toot." When his partner opened his mouth to protest, he shoveled in a forkful of food. Tim glared, then grimaced as the taste of the hospital food registered.


	14. Chapter 14

The next time McGee woke up it was dark outside. His hand felt different and he saw the bandages were thinner enabling him to see the shape of his hand more clearly. He was sure somebody would have been prepping him if he was missing part of his hand, but to have a visual confirmation that all of his fingers were still intact took a weight off his chest he hadn't realized was there. He looked up to see Tony staring at his bandaged hand, a green tint to his skin. "You all right, Tony?"

The other man jumped slightly, not realizing that McGee was awake. "Yeah, sure, kid." He never looked up from the bandaged hand. "I'm not the one in a hospital bed."

"Tony?" The bed controls were finally within the grasp of his right hand and Tim raised the bed until he was sitting almost fully upright. The dizziness passed after a moment and he spoke louder to get the other man's attention "Tony!"

The senior field agent looked up at the second calling of his name and plastered a smile on his face. "Hey, you learned how to sit up." His eyes didn't reflect the fake smile, however.

"Is there something you guys aren't telling me?" Tim experimentally raised his hand, pleased to note that the pain he had felt earlier was absent, replaced by more of a deep ache. "My hand's going to be all right, isn't it?"

DiNozzo realized that he was upsetting his partner and under the circumstances he couldn't make a joke about it. "It's going to be fine. In fact, it looks a whole lot better than it did yesterday. It's just…" Tony looked over McGee's head as he continued. "It was close, man. It was really close"

Getting uncomfortably close to discussing feeling, he changed the subject, hoping to find out more details about McGee's complicated family life. "So, is Sarah done with school for the year?"

If McGee was surprised by the change, he didn't react. 'Yeah, she finished her last final about a week ago. She's out in Santa Barbara with Mom and Dad on vacation." Alarmed, he tried to sit up the rest of the way. "You guys haven't told her, have you?"

"No. No, we haven't spoken a word to her, honest." He frowned as he continued. "Wouldn't she want to know that you've been hurt?"

Tim dismissed the concern. "I'll be healed up before she gets back for the fall term. Besides, she doesn't know about Terry."

"Why not?"

"She was just a baby, she doesn't remember him at all." Tim sighed as he tried to explain. "It was just too hard on everybody."

Tony scooted his chair closer, speaking quietly to the younger man. "By everybody, you mean your parents?" When Tim gave a nod in the affirmative, he continued, "and your grandfather?"

Realizing that apparently he had said something to alert his friend, Tim stared at his hand, trying to decide how to explain. Neither man noticed the witness now standing in the doorway. "There's been a McGee in the Navy ever since there was a U.S. Navy. Grandpa was the first one in the family to be an officer, commissioned out in the field. His time at the Hanoi Hilton ended it for him, but then Dad made it into Annapolis and the family tradition continued. When Terry and I were born, it was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to make it in the Navy, but Terry was made for it. After Terry was… after he died, it was rough on Grandpa."

"Rough or not, it doesn't excuse what he said to you." When shocked green eyes looked up at him, Tony continued. "Did you ever tell your parents?"

Tim chewed his lip as he thought how to explain the circumstances after his twin's murder. "Mom had to go back to work to pay for my therapist that summer, so Grandpa would come over and watch me and Sarah. They didn't know he was drinking. I took care of Sarah so she would be safe and Grandpa… Grandpa drank." He blinked, looking very young. "I'm tired, Tony. I'm so tired."

"Then sleep, kiddo. You've earned it." He lowered the bed back down and spent a few minutes fussing with the blankets until the younger man succumbed to his exhaustion. Once he knew Tim was out, he turned to their shadow. "You heard?"

Gibbs gave a slow nod as he slid into the chair DiNozzo had vacated. "Go home, Tony and get some rest." He leaned forward, elbows on knees, his chin in his hands, staring at the figure in the bed. Tony watched him watching Tim before quietly slipping out the door.

__________

Ziva David waited outside the corporate offices of JBM Research, Inc. The financial trail from the closed lip researchers who were experimenting on Maycap and Wilson led her here. If she had been willing to wait a few more hours, her contacts could have given her an extensive background on the company, but she wasn't willing to wait. Instead, she was going to take a more personal approach, catching the underlings as they arrived at 07-hundred. Sometimes her job had its perks.

__________

Gibbs watched the nurse bring in the breakfast tray before checking the notes the night shift had left on Tim's chart. As she made her own notes, he poked at the oatmeal and watched it vibrate in response. It would take a great deal of fresh strawberries and heavy cream to make it edible in his mind and the tray in front of him held neither. His own breakfast would be arriving soon via Ducky, but he couldn't eat in front of the kid if this was what Tim would be facing. He reached out and touched her arm to get her attention without waking McGee.

"Is he on any diet restrictions?"

She bit back a laugh as he glared at the bowl on the tray. "There's no restriction on his food, just as long as it is healthy. Just make sure the rest of the patients on the floor aren't aware of what you're bringing in. I'd prefer not to have a riot on my hands before morning rounds are finished." Gibbs didn't bother to tell her that the hospital's idea of a healthy breakfast was much more likely to cause a riot than anything he could bring in. Instead, he called Ducky and had his morning order doubled.

___________

Being the personal assistant to the logistics director in charge of data transfer had few perks and gave many headaches. The dark haired Israeli woman sitting across from him was certainly one of the latter. He didn't think his boss was doing anything illegal, but she was sure making it sound like he was. Exactly why Mossad was concerned about the research using prison inmates was beyond him and he didn't understand how suddenly he was a potential terrorist threat because his name was on some of the paperwork. Whatever was going on, it wasn't worth the threats she was making; not for the nine dollars and thirty-two cents an hour he was making before taxes. Under the circumstances, he didn't feel the least bit guilty making copies of papers he was sure she wouldn't understand anyways. When she left he laid his head on the desk and thought hard about becoming a bartender like his Uncle Louis. The tips were good and the women a whole lot safer.

_____________

It was a little awkward to hold the fork, but McGee was determined to handle it himself. It was bad enough to have Tony feed him the night before, but he was certainly not going to expect the same from Gibbs. Luckily the boss seemed willing to let him exert his independence. He really had had enough to eat, but since Ducky had driven all the way over to replace whatever the hospital had planned on feeding him, he felt it only polite to eat as much as he possibly could. When there were only a few crumbs left he felt safe in dropping his fork back onto the tray. Gibbs didn't say anything, but Tim could feel his stare as the older man cleaned up the remains from their meal. Once everything was tidied, Gibbs sat again, but this time he was on the edge of the bed where he could better look his agent in the eye. Tim decided to take the bull by the horn.

"I could have handled it better out there." Gibbs just raised an eyebrow and let the younger man talk. "I should have told Tony my suspicions right away instead of waiting." Gibbs still didn't say anything, just reached out and lightly tapped the back of McGee's head, leaving his hand resting on his neck. When Tim finally looked, he realized that he couldn't identify the expression on his mentor's face.

"Are you ready to listen?"

Tim nodded, aware of the hand cradling the base of his skull. "You did everything right out there." A slight shake emphasized the point. "Everything. If I have to wait for this concussion to heal so I can beat it into your head, I will. You've got to stop second guessing yourself. Tell me this, how long after you found that tarot card did you tell Tony what it meant?"

"Almost right away, I called Ziva first."

Gibbs could see the thought process on McGee's face. "Why did you call her first?"

"To get the searches started. It would take time to pull the maps we needed and the file was in the archive and not on the computer system."

"Then you went after the kids and filled DiNozzo in along the way, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't have time to tell him everything."

"If the two of you had stopped to discuss all the details that you knew about, would you have gotten the kids out any easier or sooner?"

"Well, no, but… Tony had to pretty much follow me in there blind."

"But he followed your lead?"

"Yeah, well he did ask me if I was sure."

"What did you tell him?"

"I asked him if he'd rather I'd suspected about the Maycap link but kept working the assigned search grid."

"Did he argue with you?"

"No, but…"

This time Gibbs didn't let him verbalize the doubts the always seemed to plague him. "He didn't argue because he trusted you. He didn't need to know every scrap of information because he trusted how you would interpret what you knew, the same way I trust you, Tim."

Stunned, McGee stared at Gibbs as the older man continued to explain what, to him, was obvious. "I'm not your father, Tim. I do see what is in front of me. If I didn't trust you, you wouldn't be on my team," Gibbs chuckled as he let go of McGee's neck to reach around and close his gaping mouth, "even if you are a little green still."


	15. Chapter 15

Cynthia opened the door to the office and quietly slipped inside to deposit a stack of files on the desk. Jenny groaned at the sight. "Is that all of them?"

"Yes, ma'am and you have a phone call on line two. It's Agent McGee's mother."

That surprised the director. "Did she say what she wanted?" Before Cynthia could answer, Jenny made a decision. "Never mind, I'll take it now. Hold all my other calls and visitors until I'm done please."

Cynthia smiled and slipped out the door. She wasn't sure exactly what had happened the day before between the director and the agent's mother, but she knew that the entire MCRT was angry about the situation. All except Agent McGee of course, who had no idea what a she-bear the director was in regards to what had happened to him.

Jenny waited until the door closed behind Cynthia before she picked up the phone and punched line two, mentally preparing herself as if she were about to deal with the most annoying of the Undersecretaries of the Navy.

"Mrs. McGee, this is Director Shepard. How can I help you?"

_"I was hoping you could tell me how Tim is doing?"_

"The doctors are pleased. They tell me he will be released in the morning."

_"Would it help if we came to see him? We could convince Sarah to visit with some of her cousins in Seattle and…"_

"No. Right now what Tim needs is to be able to finally mourn for his brother. If you and your husband aren't ready to do the same, then your presence would not be helpful to him." Mentally, Jenny crossed her fingers and hoped she was right.

_"We did what we thought was best at the time, Director Shepard."_

"I'm afraid that we will have to agree to disagree on that point, Mrs. McGee. Your son feels so much guilt over what happened to Terry and he was a victim just as much as his brother, perhaps even more so because he is still suffering."

_"We never told Tim that it was his fault." _

Jenny made sure her words were quiet, to force the other woman to really listen. "But did you ever tell him that it wasn't his fault?" Without waiting for a reply, she hung up the phone.

___________

Ziva and Gibbs arrived back at NCIS at the same time. He noted that she was no longer using crutches at all. Ziva was quite pleased with what she had acquired during her visit with the assistant at JBM. Gibbs eagerly took the printouts and flipped through them as he walked to his desk.

"Did you get a translation while you were there?"

Standing in front of his desk, she looked at them again. Upside down, from this angle, they made no more sense than they had earlier, right side up. "No, but I'm sure Ducky and Abby can make sense of them." Gibbs glared at her before he stood back up and headed for the elevator, Ziva trailing behind.

Ducky and Abby were pouring over their lab results when Gibbs and Ziva walked in. "Got anything for me, Duck?"

"Nothing more than theories at this point, I'm afraid Jethro. Abby has identified most of the drugs and chemical compounds but we have no idea how they were suppose to react in the body or what they expected to accomplish." The usually unflappable Dr. Mallard was becoming increasingly upset. He hated nothing more than a puzzle he couldn't solve, especially when that puzzle was part of the human body. He'd never admit it, but he was also concerned that perhaps Palmer was right and this had nothing to do with why Wilson kidnapped the children.

Gibbs handed Ducky the papers Ziva had brought back with her. "Will this help?" Ducky studied the papers with Abby and Palmer looking over his shoulder.

"I don't know." He looked at the two people with him. Jimmy shook his head, totally out of his element, while Abby looked a little more thoughtful as she took the printout from the medical examiner.

"I'll do what I can, but like I told you yesterday, this is more of a McGee thing."

"Maybe we should…" Palmer stopped, unsure of speaking out, especially with Gibbs in the room but Ducky encouraged him to continue.

"By all means, Mr. Palmer. A fresh perspective may be exactly what we need."

Palmer flushed, uncomfortable to find himself under the watchful eye of both Dr. Mallard and Special Agent Gibbs. "I'm not real good at figuring out the people stuff, but I've been thinking, and maybe I'm totally wrong, but…"

Gibbs was starting to lose his patience, but luckily Jimmy started to make sense. "You can't tell him he needs to be more self-confident while you hold back evidence that only he has the expertise to interpret." If he had talked any faster no one would have been able to understand him, but his point was made loud and clear. Behind them, DiNozzo stepped through the doorway.

"I hate to admit it, Boss, but Palmer has a point. Even if it is a dead-end, eventually McGee is going to know about it."

As much as he also hated to admit it, but yes, Palmer was right. Gibbs thought about it and realized that there was really only one option if he wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery without undermining McGee's confidence. "DiNozzo, grab a laptop and take all this stuff to McGee. Since Wilson is dead and Maycap is still in prison, this isn't a rush, so don't let him tire himself out. Take Palmer with you unless Ducky needs him here."

"That will be fine, Mr. Palmer. Be sure and take him some lunch. I swear that hospital food is worse than some of the battle rations I had in my day. Why once there was…"

"Why can't I go, Gibbs?

Ducky answered Abby before Gibbs could. 'We still haven't finished running the liver tissue samples we collected from Wilson's body. Come along, my dear; let's find out what other strange brews they were concocting in that sick man's body.

___________

Since the departure of his breakfast companion McGee had survived a sponge bath from a nurse who made Ziva look helpless and had acquired a pair of pajama bottoms to supplement his hospital gown. He was bored and not at all interested in the eight channels of Spanish language soap operas that the television in his room was capable of receiving. He had no books, the crossword puzzle in the morning paper had been done by Gibbs and he discovered that his phone had been damaged in the cave-in. Thus, he was happy to see his visitors and ecstatic to see the treasures they had brought him.

____________

Gibbs had barely sat down before his desk phone began to ring. Glaring unhappily at the empty coffee cup in his hand he answered the phone hoping to get rid of them quickly.

"Gibbs."

_"Agent Gibbs, it's Angela McGee."_

He definitely didn't want to speak to the woman at the moment, but knew that the polite son she raised would be mortified if he were rude to her. "Mrs. McGee, how can I help you?"

_"I wanted to apologize for my comments yesterday. I had no idea you had lost a child."_

"You had no way of knowing, Mrs. McGee."

_"How do you do it, Agent Gibbs? How do you look at someone and tell them 'my child is dead'?"_

How indeed. Gibbs thought for a moment before even trying to answer the woman. "I was like you and your husband in a way at first, because I didn't tell people. I had no survivors left, though – my wife and my daughter were killed at the same time. Eventually circumstances brought the truth out. Friends that I had met after Shannon and Kelly died were hurt that I didn't trust them with the knowledge."

_"And now? What is it like to talk about them?"_

"Shannon and Kelly live on in my memories. When I denied that, I denied them. They deserved to be remembered. So does your son."

_"You and Director Shepard have given me a great deal to think about, Agent Gibbs. Thank you." _

Gibbs stared at the phone for a long time after he disconnected.


	16. Chapter 16

DiNozzo prowled the confines of McGee's hospital room. The geek and the gremlin had joined forces and left him in the dust. Other than recite a few lines of numbers and track down several pencils for his partner to use to type with he had been totally useless to either man. His Probie better still be on track to go home in the morning, otherwise he was going to need to do some serious restocking of this room. There was nothing in the room to do and his Spanish was too rusty to watch television, although his reaction to the viewing options had made the other man laugh.

Whatever McGee was doing was impressing Palmer who was on the phone multiple times getting numbers and saturation levels from Abby. Somewhere between the algorithms and the beta blockers DiNozzo admitted defeat. Smile and nod seemed to be the operative words of the day. The lunch they'd brought was a distant memory and just as he was afraid they would have to rely on the hospital cafeteria, Gibbs arrived lugging pizzas with Ziva, Ducky, and Abby in tow. A quiet request from the patient brought the director straight from a late meeting with the SecNav. Dinner was a lively affair even after the nursing staff scolded them for being too loud. After everyone had their fill and the boxes were set aside Gibbs was ready to bring them back on task.

"McGee, were you able to make any sense of what Palmer brought you?" Behind him, Palmer started laughing under his breath. McGee rescued Palmer by answering quickly for once.

"They are experimenting with a combination of drugs and synthetic hormones to eliminate violent tendencies and to make sociopaths easier to control."

Even Tony, who had been witness to the afternoon session, was stunned by McGee's discovery. Abby and Ducky crowded around the bed to study the rough diagrams Palmer had sketched out under McGee's supervision.

"Wow, oh wow, look at that. The compounds react with the abnormal brain chemistry..."

"Indeed. The potential if this works is limitless, it is…"

"Devastating." McGee's interruption brought silence to the room. When he had everyone's attention he continued, first turning his attention to Director Shepard. "This is why I asked that you join us tonight. In the wrong hands, this could be extremely dangerous." He could tell they didn't comprehend the full implication yet. "Total, drug induced mind control." He repeated himself in words even DiNozzo could understand. "Instead of Stepford Wives, think Stepford Prisons. Now think of that in a military application, or worse yet a terrorist application." That they got.

"Just how close are they to a final version?" Jenny's head was spinning at the possibilities, each worse than the last.

Tim frowned as he skimmed back over his findings, hoping he was wrong. "Closer than they realize. The papers they gave Ziva are like their own version of a Rosetta stone. Not all of them know the full impact of what is going on there. If they did, they sure wouldn't have handed this over."

Ziva looked at the papers she had acquired that morning. Lying on McGee's bed tray they looked as baffling as they had in her car in the parking lot of JBM Research. "What does it say then? It is just random numbers and letters."

"Not random, it's code."

"How do we break the code?"

Palmer was the one to answer Gibbs. "He wrote a program."

Gibbs had heard this countless times, but never had he seen it. Palmer pulled up the coding on the laptop for the rest of the group to see. Pages and pages of coding scrolled by, as mystifying and impossible to read as the papers that started the search. DiNozzo whistled. "No wonder you were doing calculus when you were eight."

Even the director was suitably impressed. "Doesn't a Rosetta stone need a key?"

"Yes ma'am and our key was Wilson. Every patient in the project was given a very specific cocktail of drugs. By taking the results from our lab tests, knowing when he was medicated, and comparing that to the saturation levels in his tissues and blood samples we were able to identify him. Once we were able to locate every mention of Wilson in the papers they gave Ziva, we could spiral out from there." He grinned at his boss. "Standard search pattern, even in cyberspace."

Gibbs couldn't help the wide grin on his face in return. "You found a connection to Maycap in all that."

"Maycap was in the control group, Boss. He was given a placebo." He could tell the rest of them hadn't made the final connection, all except Gibbs who was allowing him to explain. "Once a month, when Wilson was being pumped full of the drugs to make him pliable Maycap was in the next bed getting saline solution and having long detailed conversations with the man."

"My God." Jenny looked at McGee's work through the eyes of a director and knew what he had discovered went far beyond the mandates of NCIS. Looking at him she realized that he knew it too. "We are going to have to bring in the FDA, the DEA and Homeland Security. Because of the connection to the prisons, we'd better count on the Marshal's office and the FBI to get involved."

Knowing she was right and liking it were two totally different things. Gibbs grunted and made a demand of his own. "Just make sure McGee gets the credit. He deserves it."

Jenny gave a knowing smile to her favorite agent. "Already planning on it Jethro. Now, let's get out of here and let the poor boy get some rest. I think he's earned it."

One by one they each said their goodbyes and trooped out the door until only Gibbs was left. He began his now nightly ritual of removing the extra blanket as Tim gave a sigh and settled into the bed. Gibbs laid his hand on the young agent's forehead lightly in deference to the bruises he sported. "DiNozzo and Palmer were supposed to keep you from overdoing it."

"I didn't overdo it." His protests were interrupted by an enormous yawn. "Well, maybe just a little bit, but when I saw what they were doing and how bad the possibilities were, I just couldn't stop. Nothing a good night's sleep can't fix." Another yawn and he was drifting off, but forced his eyelids back up. "Boss?"

"Yeah, McGee?"

"Before we get knee deep in the federal alphabet soup tomorrow I just wanted to say thanks. I couldn't have gotten through all of this without your help."

"You're stronger than you give yourself credit for, McGee. I have no doubt that you could have."

McGee knew better than to argue, but he could get in the last word in this discussion. "Then thanks for making sure I didn't have to."

"You're welcome, son."


	17. Chapter 17

Discharge from the hospital was a happy milestone as McGee was more than ready to leave. Even the surprising news that he would be staying at Gibbs' house until he was more recovered couldn't dampen his spirits.

Knowing the way his boss's mind works, it was not a surprise when the car ended up at NCIS. The standing ovation he received in MTAC was a surprise, however. An even bigger surprise was the message standing by for him. Direct from Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Keith Jacobs, the grateful father of Kevin and Kyle waiting to personally thank the NCIS agent who had saved his sons.

The one thing that was not a surprise was the announcement that the other agencies all wanted to hear about how he had discovered what JBM Medical Research what up to. Rather than allow her recovering agent to be dragged from federal building to federal building, the best scientists and team leaders throughout what was lovingly called the alphabet soup were summoned to NCIS by the director to be briefed together. Any nervousness McGee might have felt disappeared when he saw his team standing in the back row. DiNozzo making bunny ears behind one of the FBI's deputy directors gave him a smile and a confidence to stand tall and impress them.

Hand shakes were certainly out of the question, but the departing geeks and their handlers all stopped to personally speak to McGee on their way out. Gibbs smiled as he overheard several invites for lunch once the young man fully recovered. McGee may belong to him now but there was no reason for him to turn down a few nice meals on another agency's dime. Speaking of which…

"DiNozzo!"

"Yeah, Boss."

"You and David get McGee fed and settled in at my place. Swing by and get his phone replaced while your out."

"On it, Boss." Tony grabbed both his backpack and McGee's while Ziva took the keys to the sedan. Once the three of them were in the elevator Tony snagged the keys from her.

"We just got the Probie back; let's not give him a heart attack today."

"My driving is not that bad," she turned to McGee, "is it?"

After standing on his own against the swarm of other agencies he was feeling brave.

"Well, if you have to ask…"

At least the elbow to the ribs was gentler than it would have been a week ago.

______________

He watched the elevator door close on the bickering threesome before joining the director at her favorite perch overlooking the bullpen. She smiled as he stood next to her. "Our boy did good today, Jethro. His work on this impressed a lot of people; should we be worried?"

"Nah, he's exactly where he wants to be." Gibbs bumped her shoulder with his. "He'll get a few good steaks out of it and a boost to his ego, but this is his home." He waited a few seconds. "I hear you spoke to his mother again."

"I just wish I had gotten through to her." Jenny was a good director and hated to see anything hurt her people, especially their own family.

Gibbs laid a hand on her shoulder and leaned against her, speaking directly into her ear. "I think maybe you did."

____________

At the Rosemont Retirement Estate just north of Angel Fire, New Mexico, retired agent Marty Evans was interrupted during his putting practice by the UPS delivery. He signed for the overnight package before taking it inside. His wife joined him as he studied the box.

"What would the Director of NCIS be sending you, honey?"

"I'm not sure." He opened the box and stared at the crystal decanter of cognac nestled inside the blue velvet lining. The card inside simply stated 'Thank you' with the personal signature of Director Jenny Shepard.

____________

"So, McGee, where do you want to go for lunch?"

The sun through the sedan window was making him sleepy. "Anyplace near a park. It's such a beautiful day out and I just want to enjoy it."

Tony grinned at Ziva as they both watched the other man. "I know just the place."

____________

Again with an empty coffee cup in his hand, Gibbs glared at the ringing phone before answering it. If it was going to be an ongoing thing with McGee's mother, he was going to have to have words with somebody.

"Gibbs."

_"Harrison here."_

"Major, how's it going?" He had been impressed with the officer the night of the kidnapping. Of course the man's concern for their injured agent hadn't hurt his impression of him either. The major came straight to the point.

_"I spoke to Kevin and Kyle again today. Now that they've had some time to calm down they've remembered something Wilson said to them that has me worried."_

"What?" Gibbs sat up straight as he listened.

_"The boys both remembered him saying 'we're going to give him Timmy'. They didn't know who Timmy was, but I am worried that Wilson may have planned on using the boys to trap Agent McGee somehow for Maycap. It's probably nothing, but I wanted you to know."_

"You're right, it's probably nothing, but we'll check it out just to be safe." Even as he said the words, his gut was telling him otherwise as he disconnected and searched his desk for the prison and hospital information on Maycap. The prison confirmed today was the day for his monthly treatment. The hospital reluctantly admitted that they had misplaced the man, but they were sure it was just a mix-up. They had been treating him for over a year without a single problem, after all.

___________

Gibbs took the stairs two at a time as he rushed up to the director's office, dialing his cell phone at the same time. Jen could listen to his half of the conversation to save time.

"DiNozzo, where are you? Is McGee still with you?" Next to him, Jenny straightened in alarm as his tone set off alarms in her head. Over the phone, DiNozzo was a little slower.

_"Yeah, well sort of. He's holding down a park bench while we order his…"_

"Maycap's escaped! Do you have a visual on McGee?"

_"Crap, no."_

He could hear the sound of running as DiNozzo and David shoved past people in the crowded lunch bar and rushed outside.

_"He's not here, Boss, McGee's not here."_

"Where are you?"

_'Nato Parkway and M Street – the park next to the fountains."_

He repeated the location for Jenny's benefit as she called in reinforcements. "We're on our way, DiNozzo."

____________


	18. Chapter 18

Cars pulled in from every direction right behind Gibbs. Every NCIS agent in DC had been told to drop what they were working on. The rescue of Timothy McGee was the agency's only priority at the moment. Gibbs ignored the other agents as he rushed straight for DiNozzo and David.

He may have wanted to yell at them for being so careless with their partner, but one glance told him what they were telling themselves was far worse. "What have you got?"

"This." Ziva stood up with an evidence bag in her hand. An empty syringe was inside. "We found this next to the bench he was sitting on."

DiNozzo shook his head in frustration. "Five minutes – he was only out of our sight for five lousy minutes."

Gibbs snagged one of the agents and handed him the bag out of Ziva's hand. "Take this straight back to Abby." Bracing himself, he called the direct line to her lab.

"Gibbs, tell me he's okay."

Apparently somebody had gotten to her first. "Working on it Abs. We're sending a syringe back to the lab. I need fingerprints and I need to know what was in it. I need it now, Abby. "

Abby babbled when she was scared. Her silence meant she was terrified. As soon as he disconnected the call, his phone rang again.

"Gibbs."

"Harrison. I just heard. We've got over a hundred volunteers ready for you. Helicopters search dogs, infrared, the works – whatever you need, if it's on this base, it's yours."

"As soon as we have a direction, I'll let you know… and thanks." He again disconnected his phone and turned back to the remaining members of his team. "Major Harrison has placed all their resources at our disposal." He looked at Ziva. "You studied the file on Maycap more than anyone. Where would he go?"

"I'm not sure." She reviewed the file notes in her head as she spoke. The psychologist had had a field day after his arrest. "He thought of what he did to those children as some sort of art. He thought their mangled bodies were beautiful. McGee's survival made him the unfinished art piece."

DiNozzo angrily ran his hands through his hair. "He needs to kill Tim, but where?"

The answer was so obvious it was painful. Gibbs yelled at the other agents to clear the park as he called Harrison back and dispatched two helicopters to their location. "He's going to throw Tim off that God damned mountain!"

__________

Abby stared at the results in horror. She'd had a sick feeling the moment the syringe came into her lab and used every shortcut she knew to confirm what was in it. She called the dispatcher and got patched through to Gibbs in the helicopter. He didn't waste any time. 'What'ya find, Abby?"

It's the same exact drug cocktail that Wilson was on."

"What will one dose of that do to McGee?"

"It won't turn him into a mind-controlled zombie, but it will weaken him and make him more susceptible." She paused, chewing on the end of her pigtail. "Find him, Gibbs. You've got to find him."

"I'm not coming home until I do."

____________

Tim fell to the ground, exhausted and dizzy. Whatever had been in the needle that plunged into his neck made him cold in a way he never thought possible. His left arm was tied down, tucked under the rope Maycap was using as a leash to drag him up the steep terrain. He knew once they got to the top of the mountain he was a dead man unless he found a way to fight back. He hunched over, trying to look helpless as he loosened the brace supporting his broken shoulder and arm. The bandages on his left hand were becoming bloodstained as a result, but he hoped Maycap wouldn't notice or understand the significance if he did. Maycap didn't look too closely at him as he yanked the injured man back to his feet and Tim was grateful. The air was getting thinner and McGee knew his time to prepare was almost up. When Maycap began laughing, he recognized the sound from when he had been kidnapped as a child. Not willing to wait for his insane assailant, Tim dove at the man, intent on ending it now, one way or another. They rolled around on the ground, neither man getting an immediate upper hand.

_____________

Two helicopters crossed paths repeatedly as they searched their way up the mountain. In one, Gibbs and Harrison quietly searched, looking through high powered infrared binoculars. Harrison tapped Gibbs on the shoulder to get his attention. Searchers had found a stolen car stuck in a culvert part way up the mountain. As soon as Gibbs heard about the car, his gut knew they were further behind McGee and his tormentor than they should be. He called out to the pilot to restart their search from the top of the mountain.

_____________

Abby sat alone in her darkened lab, even her music turned off. The evidence from the last week spread out on the table in front of her. All of it spoke of a terrifying ordeal, but none more vividly than the crushed Sig Sauer in the middle of the table. She sighed and wrapped her lab coat tightly around her. "Bring him home, Gibbs. Bring him home."

__________

Up in her office, Jenny Shepard stared out the window toward the mountain their search teams were converging on. She couldn't see any of it from this distance, but she could visualize it. She shivered and wrapped her arms tightly around herself. "Bring our boy home, Jethro. Bring him home."

__________

A clearing caught the attention of Gibbs as they searched. Needing to be ready to help McGee when the time came, he motioned for the pilot to lower the chopper over it. When Harrison moved to join him, he shook his head. "Keep looking, I need you to be my eyes up here." Reluctantly, the major nodded and resumed his watch. Gibbs jumped, rolling when he hit the ground as years of training took over.

___________

Tony and Ziva continued to search, never letting their guard down, hating to even blink for fear they might miss something. Finally Ziva noticed movement and called in a course correction to the pilot. Watching, Tony spotted it also and called it in to the other helicopter. Two figures were struggling on the ground, neither could be seen clearly. They both slid about thirty feet down the shale surface and then, with a shove, one figure fell the rest of the way. Tony sagged against the glass. "God no, not Tim, please not Tim."

Ziva and Tony stared in horror where the body had landed as the pilot kept the bird hovering in the same spot. Tony fumbled with the radio, finally reaching Major Harrison.

"Somebody fell, who fell?" Tell me who fell, damn it."

Eventually Harrison radioed back. "I don't know. I don't know."


	19. Chapter 19

The sounds of a desperate fight were loud in his ears as Gibbs rushed to scramble past the underbrush that blocked his path. If he yelled, would it give Tim the strength to hold on or push the lunatic to finish him off? Either way, Gibbs didn't have the air to try. As he broke free of the last bramble an echoing scream could be heard reverberating down the mountainside.

"No, no, no, no, no." He flung himself against the edge to look down. Thirty feet below him a still form lay clinging to a rock outcropping. After a few long moments the figure moved and looked up at him. It was the battered face of Tim McGee.

Gibbs quickly realized that it wasn't over yet. The rock and dirt were crumbling underneath the trapped agent and McGee was clearly beyond exhaustion. He needed to act quickly if the kid was going to get out of this alive. "McGee! Tim, can you hear me?" The younger man was already looking in the right direction, but it wasn't until Gibbs yelled that there was any recognition in his eyes.

"Boss? Boss, is that really you?"

"Yeah, kid, what do say? You ready to go home?

McGee barked out a laugh as he vigorously nodded. "I don't know if I can climb back up, Boss."

He noticed that McGee was definitely not looking down the cliff where Maycap's body had fallen, but under the circumstances he probably wouldn't have been either. "Just hang on, Tim. We'll get some rope from one of the choppers and have you out of there in no time. Just hang on."

"Further up, Boss." When Gibbs just stared at him blankly, McGee explained in more detail. "I was tied up; the rope is further up there." He wasn't sure exactly where the rope had been dropped, but he had complete faith that Gibbs would find it.

Gibbs looked around frantically, finally spotting the end of a rope under some damaged vines. He grabbed it and pulled. Within seconds he had a nice length of rope in his hands and rushed back to his fallen agent.

_______________

Some remembered knots turned Maycap's tether into a workable rescue rope. One end was tied around a reasonably sturdy tree while a loop was tied into the other end. Hanging onto the loop, Gibbs eased himself over the edge and moved towards where McGee waited for him. The shale fractured under his feet and he would have gone over the edge if not for the rope. Eventually he reached the end of the rope, still a few feet from being able to grasp McGee. "Tim, I need you to reach out to me. You're almost there, just reach out so I can grab your wrist."

Slowly, carefully McGee reached up with his left hand. Fingertips brushed, then Gibbs stretched again, wrapping a strong grip around the other man's wrist. Tim's fingers were still too damaged and bandaged to provide more than a suggestion of a grip but Gibbs felt it, nonetheless. With the added support, McGee was able to work his way up until he was next to Gibbs.

_____________

Harrison dropped out of the helicopter in the same manner as Gibbs had only minutes earlier, DiNozzo's frantic questions still ringing in his ears. He followed the trail, instantly spotting the rope. He eased his way closer, not knowing what to expect. "Gibbs! I need a sit-rep Gibbs."

A pleased voice responded to him. "Get us out of here and I'll tell you all about it." Laughing, Harrison grasped the rope at his end and kept it pulled tight allowing the two men to more easily clamber their way to solid ground. Once they were up with Harrison he dropped the rope and gave two thumbs up to the waiting helicopters.

Gibbs helped McGee down onto the ground. The injured agent was trembling from both shock and fatigue. Gibbs knew that in a matter of moments the clearing would be filled, bustling with rescuers, searchers and fellow agents. Right now it was up to him to give Tim what he needed. Keeping one hand on the other man, Gibbs slipped out of his NCIS jacket and wrapped it around Tim.

"You're safe, son. You're safe."

* * *

To be concluded in The Gemini and the Magician They thought it was over, but when the minds behind JBM Research vanish along with all their research the team discovers just how far from over it really is. Tim's search for both the truth and for closure is further complicated when Angela McGee makes some decisions of her own. When the going gets rough, which family will Tim turn to?


End file.
